


i love to hate you | m.c.

by infinitely_trying



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, Friendship/Love, Love/Hate, Romance, love hate, love x hate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-18
Updated: 2016-01-21
Packaged: 2018-05-14 20:15:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 31
Words: 37,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5756758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/infinitely_trying/pseuds/infinitely_trying
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>two teenagers couldn't hate each other more, coincidentally they were neighbours and therefore forced to see each other on a daily basis.</p><p>warning: this fanfic is such cheese cause i'm an absolute sucker for that</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Alexa. The human embodiment of a crossbreed between grumpy cat and bookworm. Hates people with passion, especially her neighbour.

 

Michael. Wannabe punk-rock and slightly to real fuckboy. Likes to piss people off, especially his neighbour.


	2. 1

Once again Alexa was woken up by a loud noise from outside. If it wasn’t the alarm during school it was some stupid person making the loudest noise ever in the middle of ‘her night’ aka 11am. She was already furious and also determined to find out who earth dared to disturb her peaceful slumber, so she got changed quickly and went outside. Only to be greeted by her mother, mowing the lawn.

“thank you very much for waking me up” she shouted, shooting an evil glare to her mother, who didn’t even see or hear her daughter. Being as frustrated as she was, she dramatically sighed and put her hands up, turned round and slammed the door shut with a loud noise.

Back inside Alexa decided on nesquick for breakfast, as it was her favourite cereal. Also it was a quick fix for basically everything, since it was mainly chocolate. Whenever something was bothering her, she poured herself a bowl of nesquick. Now was one of those moments where just everything was frustrating. The world seemed to be against her, at least that was what it felt like.

Since she was on break, her sleeping schedule was basically non-existent. So breakfast at 11am was quite early actually. Alexa is such a night-owl. She just loves the night, when everything is peaceful and nothing is happening. The night inspired her a lot as well. 

⨉⨉⨉⨉⨉⨉⨉⨉⨉⨉⨉⨉⨉⨉

Just like every free afternoon, she grabbed a book and made her way over to the hammock under the tree. It was really beautiful in their garden to be honest. There was this huge tree at the very end, which she used to climb all the time when she was little. And on the other side there was this little pond her mother loved and cared about a lot. Unfortunately it didn’t have fish in it, there used to be a fountain but that broke down a while ago. Closer to the backdoor of the house there was a table with lovely, vintage looking chairs around it. And quite in the middle of the garden was Alexa’s favourite place. The fire pit. She had always loved sitting around a ever so silently crackling fire, when the nights were warm in summer. It gave her an odd sense of comfort, just like the sound of rain hitting the roof. Around the whole property there was a fence with neat white slats going all the way around. It was actually a quite fairytale garden and Alexa loved every bit of it. 

Today the sun was shining brightly but under the shadow of the tree the temperature of this warm summer day was actually bearable. Alexa had been lost in the book she was reading for what seemed like hours. It was really nice, because there was absolutely no distraction whatsoever. Once the tiniest thought of the peaceful silence was made, it was broken by loud, banging music. And where did it come from? From that stupid neighbour, who also happens to have a “band”, at least that’s what they called it. 

Always in the nicest moments they decided to “practice”. Almost as if they would do it deliberately, just to piss Alexa off. She could imagine that though, since her neighbour likes to do exactly that. 

He is what you would call a fuckboy. Constantly makes snarky remarks about whatsoever when he sees Alexa. Thinks he knows her so well and also thinks he is so damn cool with his “band” and his torn jeans and his colourful hair. Alexa could vomit just at the thought of him. And the best part about all this was that her mum and his mum were actually really good friends. This meant that they had to see and talk to each other a lot more than Alexa would have liked to. 

“Goddamnit boys turn the fuck down” she shouted in the direction of the music, knowing they would never hear it. She tried to concentrate, but it just wasn’t possible with this loud music in the background. It felt like this whole beautiful day was ruined by those stupid idiots. Just as she had given up and made her way towards the house, the noise stopped and not long after the four boys came out of the house.

“oh god no” Alexa muttered. Being confronted with that idiot was the last thing she wanted. 

“hello lovely, how was your day? Did you read a lot?” Michael shouted, a fake sweet tone in his saying. 

“shut the fuck up” Alexa hissed.

“oh someone’s grumpy today” he put his hands up in fake-defence.

“well you wanna know why? Cause you fucking idiots can’t practice so that I can read outside” she couldn’t articulate it well enough, so knew she had almost lost anyways.

“sucks to be you then, cause we had so much fun” he teased, having so much fun getting at her.

“you’re so stupid it hurts my brain” Alexa countered, massaging her temples, pretending she had a headache just then. She didn’t give him a chance to get back at her, instead she shut the door behind her.

Why did boys exist? Mostly why did boys like Michael exist? Like what was their purpose on this earth? Alexa did not get it. He was just the scum of this earth and obviously he had to live next to her. She decided on continuing the book, but this time inside of her room, probably the best idea.


	3. 2

Ann, Alexa’s mum, was the polar opposite of Alexa herself. Outgoing, chatty and liked people a lot. Whenever she was outside she was talking to somebody. A random passer-by, a neighbour or sometimes even to herself. This also meant that Ann was quite good friends with her neighbours. Alexa hated nothing more than that ever so often really awkward lunch/dinner with the Cliffords. The family was nice, if it wasn’t for that stupid boy. God did Alexa hate him.

As Alexa made her way downstairs a nice scent of freshly baked cake made it’s way to her nostrils. Intrigued as she was, she went to the kitchen. Turning round the corner, she saw her mum finishing off a really nice looking cake. Alexa’s mouth was watering at the thought of this delicious cake.

“why’d you make such a nice cake? Can I have a piece?” Alexa inquired, walking into the kitchen. 

“I’m sorry sweety, it’s not for you”

“ugggh why nooooooot” Alexa fake whined, pretending to be an annoying child. 

“because it’s a thank you to our neighbours, who, if you don’t remember helped renovating our basement last month” her mother lectured.

“I couldn’t care less about that stupid basement, all I care about is that cake right there” Alexa said, moving closer to the cake with wide eyes fixating on it.

“don’t you dare” her mother warned. “By the way, you’re gonna have to go and bring it over to them, once it’s cooled down”

“no way I am going over there” she protested. Her mother was not making her go over to that house. Nothing could make her do that, in fact she would rather die than go over to that house. God knows, maybe that idiot will open the door. His parents are nice though, but what if he opens. Alexa didn’t want to imagine.

“oh yes you are, because I have got to go in five minutes, and don’t you dare eating that cake” her mother warned one final time, before skipping out the house.

Alexa contemplated everything, every possibility that would have allowed her not to go over to do what she was dreading. She actually considered having a friend over, so they could go and deliver the cake, that would not be awkward at all. She almost called that they should come and get it themselves, yet she didn’t because who knows who of the family would have come.

So after about an hour of making out every worst scenario, she decided that she just had to or her mother would be real angry once she got back home. Very carefully taking the beautiful cake in her hands, she walked out the backdoor. One last thought was spent on the benefits of eating the cake, but she discarded it, since her mother would not be particularly happy about it. Ringing the doorbell, she was making out the worst. 

“heya beautiful, how are you today” he fake smiled. Alexa internally cursed herself for leaving her room in the first place. 

“I’m fine thanks” She contemplated throwing the cake in his face, because he was such a prick. Plus it would have looked and felt hella badass. But she didn’t, considering the consequences that action would have. She bit it down and tried to play it nice.

“who do I owe this incredible honour of your visit to?” he said sweetly.

“you’re such an idiot, my mum obviously made me”

“I’m sorry I’m just being nice” he said, a smirk appearing on his face.

“you are definitely not being nice, you are just trying to piss me off as much as possible, and congrats it’s working” she almost shouted.

“oh wow I am sorry” he said sarcastically “did you bake me a cake, honey?” he teased.

“dON’T EVER CALL ME THAT AGAIN” She was fuming. It took her every ounce of self-control she had not to smash that cake in his face. If it was a cartoon they were in, she would have definitely had smoke coming out of her ears.

“well, somebody’s moody today” he remarked, putting hands up in fake-defeat.

“let me tell you one thing, you are the scum of the earth and I am forced to socialise with you and there are a million other things I’d rather be doing at this very moment but my mum made me bring this cake to your house in reward for some thing your by the way actually lovely parents did and I did it cause I am a nice person so will you please just take the goddamn cake and leave me alone” Alexa spat out, not missing a single breath.

With that being said he took the cake and Alexa stalked off being furious as ever, just because of this one idiot. Michael stood there completely out of his world, not grasping what had just happened. A few moments later he had broken out of the trance he was in and realised that he actually had a cake in his hands. He went inside, still unsure of what had happened just then.

Alexa, on the other hand, was completely out of her mind. She went back to her house, slamming every possible door shut. She was so mad. Why was he like this? Why couldn’t she have a normal neighbour? She was not asking for a cute boy or let alone an attractive one. All she wanted was a neighbour who wouldn’t be like that. Thinking about it, no neighbour would also be acceptable.

She let her mind wander, what it’d be like being able to go outside in peace for once. How amazing that would be. Letting her mind wander in a darker place, she contemplated what she’d have to do to not see him for a week. After all that thinking she realised it was actually her mother’s birthday tomorrow. ‘oh shit’ she cursed out loud, getting off the bed and making her way to the city-centre, hopefully finding something acceptable.


	4. 3

It was the day of Alexa’s mother’s birthday. Luckily she had found her a gift last minute. A beautiful vase, with a single flower in it, surely her mother would love it. The other thing that was on today’s agenda was making breakfast, which meant getting up earlier than Alexa would have liked to. It was her mother’s birthday after all. She decided on being a nice person and preparing a lovely breakfast for her mother, who obviously decided on bursting in halfway through the preparations. 

“Good morning honey, you’re up already?” her mother asked in confusion whilst waltzing into the kitchen.

“Yeah! I was gonna surprise you with a lovely breakfast, but you decided to ruin that, didn’t you” Alexa said walking over and hugging her mother. “Happy birthday I love you so much” she squeezed her tightly.

“thank you sweety I love you too and thanks for the breakfast” she tried making the situation okay.

“oh and here’s your present, I almost forgot, I hope you like it” Alexa said in a rush, handing her the vase. She had imagined it all to go down quite differently, but since this is how it turned out, she just had to roll with it. 

“thank you very much, this is so beautiful” her mother said, wrapping her arms around her daughter once again. It was nice though, receiving and giving love at the same time. “oh and can you help dad set up the tables in the garden” her mother was now bringing out the puppy eyes, which obviously Alexa couldn’t deny.

“yeah sure” Alexa said with a smile, remembering there would be a birthday party today. Whatever it was people liked about parties Alexa didn’t get it. She just preferred being alone, reading a book. So much loud chattering and usually nobody really listens to one another, because they are thinking about what they can say next. But hey if others enjoyed it, they should, it just wasn’t Alexa’s thing. Nonetheless she made her way outside, to help set it all up. It was her mother’s birthday after all. Once outside she was happily greeted by her father.

“heya do you mind setting up those tables on your own for now, I need to get something from the shops I’ll help ya later”

“yeah sure whatever” Alexa said mindlessly, knowing she would have to do everything on her own. With that she heard her father starting the car and driving off. It wasn’t too bad, there was definitely worse than setting out some tables and decorating everything nicely. That is what she thought.

It was not as easy since the wind decided to keep blowing off all of the tablecloths she had perfectly layed out. It must have looked ridiculous watching her run from table to table to fix it constantly. She was glad that nobody saw her struggling. She thought.

“Do you need any help” a too familiar voice teased. Alexa groaned and in the process she dropped all the little lights she was meant to put on the tables. 

“I hate you” she hissed, more to herself. Yet he heard her. 

“so do I” he trailed off “but that’s what we’re here for, right”

“I am on this planet to live my life and not to be constantly harassed by the definition of a fuckboy” she spat out, desperately trying to pick up everything she dropped. Some of them were probably even broken. Wasn’t that just great.

“rude” he remarked, watching her from behind the fence. 

“oh now I am being rude?” she asked facing him, completely taken aback by his stupidity. 

“you’re always rude, it’s not nice of you” Michael fake pouted. Alexa was still trying to carry way too many items at once. She just didn’t want to walk more times than absolutely necessary. Some people call that lazy, she prefers to call it practical. 

“you’re gonna drop them again, if you carry all of them at once, you know” he remarked, watching her every move.

“just mind your own damn business will you” she spat, being completely done with him. Balancing way too many little lights in her hands, she tried to get them over to the nearest table.

“but it’s so much more fun watching you” he reasoned sarcastically.

“what kind of pathetic person are you?” she said turning round to face him. “do you like seeing people in stress, huh? you are so awful I hate you” she was in loss of words, his way of annoying her drove her mad. 

“wow” he said, looking directly into her eyes. “you’re calling me pathetic. Not nice”

“that’s exactly what you are” she stated, giving him a death glare. She was so done with this idiot. Not giving him any time to answer she continued. “you know what you’re a primitive monkey, go annoy somebody else, I have things to do, if you cannot tell” With that being said, she turned round and proceeded setting up the tables and everything. 

“I could help you, you know” he spoke with a smirk on his face. 

“I’d rather have a wild tiger in my garden than you helping me thank you very much” she hissed.

“Why can’t I ever be nice to you without being shouted at?” he asked tilting his head. Teasing her and making her all flustered was so much fun.

“it’s because you are not nice, you are just plotting something to annoy me further. Besides why the hell would you be nice to me?” she uttered. “look I am being nice for one day for my mother so will you please leave me alone”

“I am not doing anything” he responded innocently.

“I hate you so much” she spat out. She was so done with this boy. If she was around him any longer she would punch him in the face. That’s why she decided on going inside, she would set the rest up later. There was no need of a scene on this day.


	5. 4

Not long after Alexa was finished getting ready, the first guests were turning up. They were mostly people Alexa knew, either relatives or family friends. She was actually quite excited about this party. Not so much about the people but more about the food, because her mother wanted a barbecue. And god did Alexa love barbecues. 

A few greetings here and there later she was sat at a table with her little cousin, Cassandra. She was beyond cute. Her eyes were the bluest of blue and her hair was a blonde curly mess. Cass, what she preferred to be called, was just a little ball of fluff. She was seven years old and looked up to Alexa a lot. When she arrived she basically crashed into Alexa and hugged really tight. It was so lovely. Right now she was showing Alexa a video of her ballet performance last month. 

“wow you are really good Cass!” Alexa said in awe. 

“Aw thank youuuuuu” the way she dragged out the u was just so adorable. Alexa usually didn’t like children, Cass was definitely an exception. 

“so when’s your next performance, I wanna come see you” Alexa asked.

“uhmm I don’t know but I can go and ask mummy if you want to”

“yeah that’d be great, I really don’t want to miss it again!” As soon as Alexa had finished her sentence the little girl sprinted off. Alexa watched her run over to the other table, quite in a daze. She didn’t even realise somebody sitting down opposite of her. 

“heya” a too familiar voice spoke, tearing her out of her daze.

“hi” she retorted, squinting her eyes, quite obviously not happy seeing him. “I’ll be back in a minute” she said sweetly and got up to find her mother. 

Luckily she was alone in the kitchen when Alexa came in. Alexa didn’t really want to make a scene but she just couldn’t hold it in.

“why the hell is he here?” Alexa almost shouted, with an angry expression on her face. 

“who are you talking about, darling?” Her mother pretended not to understand who was bothering her so much. Yet she did exactly know who Alexa held the biggest of grudges against.

“you know exactly who I am talking about” Alexa spat out, squinting her eyes. 

“I know you don’t like him, but he’s not that bad okay” her mother tried making the situation a bit less tense.

“oh you have no idea he is awful, I hate him” Alexa tried making clear of the situation.

“oh come on it’s just one evening, besides I can’t really invite his parents and then say but your son is not allowed to come because my daughter doesn’t like him” she tried with an excuse.

“ughhhhh” Alexa spoke out loud, spinning in a circle on her heels whilst throwing her hands up in the air. She was so frustrated about everything. The party could have been so nice. But no. This idiot had to turn up.

“it’s just for one evening okay, for my birthday” Now her mother tried the guilt card and voilà: it worked.

“fine I’ll be as nice as I can be” Alexa let her mother win this time, because it was her birthday after all. Yet she dreaded going outside. Nonetheless she made her way back to the table she was previously sitting, opposite that oh so lovely boy. There was also another person there chatting away. It was Cass. Oh god no. Alexa sat down next to her, completely ignoring Michael. 

“so when’s your next performance lovely?” she asked sweetly, interrupting Cass and Michaels previous conversation. 

“uhm mommy didn’t really know but she’ll call you when she knows”

“oh alright, that’s fine” Alexa reassured her. “so what are you going to do in your holidays?” Alexa asked sweetly, trying to keep Michael out of the conversation as much as possible. 

“uhm I don’t know yet but I will come and visit you and your boyfriend some time he’s really nice too” Cass spurted out, shocking Alexa quite a bit. It took her a second to respond to what had just left Cass’ mouth.

“oh no no no he’s not my boyfriend, he’s awful, he’s the kind of guy you’d never wanna be with” Alexa blurted out a bit to quick. 

“but he’s so nice what are you talking about Alexaaaa” Cass was doing that dragging out the last vowel thing again.

“trust me he’s so not, I have known him for a while now” Alexa tried to make a point.

“you do realise I am sitting right here” Michael piped up.

“yeah I wish you didn’t tho” Alexa retorted turning back to Cass, trying to ignore Michael any further. Cass was not having any of that.

“why are you being so mean to him he’s nice?” Cass sincerely inquired, wide eyes directed to Alexa.

“you know he’s being really mean to me, usually” Alexa tried to reason, although it didn’t really work. Michael almost spat out the sip he just took, trying to make it look dramatic.

"you should listen to your cousin, she sure is right" Michael smirked, liking the direction the conversation was going. Alexa couldn’t be especially nasty with her little cousin around, another advantage for Michael. 

“I hate you” Alexa whispered, shooting an evil glare directly into his eyes.

“I love to hate you” he whispered back, making the situation really uncomfortable. Alexa shuffled in her seat, trying to get rid of the awkward air around her. In the process of doing so, she bumped her leg into Michaels under the table. For a second there was this spark on the skin of her leg, although she denied it immediately. This obviously made the situation even more awkward.

“I need to go to the toilet” Alexa managed to get out, whilst getting up and walking away. This stupid boy was driving her mad.  
Michael watched her walk off, trying to figure out what had just happened. Was she trying to hit him? Was she trying to be flirty? Probably the first part. He couldn’t quite deny that electricity that sparked for a second though, when their legs touched. 

“who is your favourite Disney princess?” Cass asked, tearing Michael out of his trance. He kind of forgot Cass was still there.

“uhm…… I think Mulan, she is a princess right?” he asked the little girl.

“yes she is! she is so so so so cool” Cass babbled. 

A few hours and a few beers for Michael later Alexa had abandoned Michael after Cass had left. She sat down below the big tree in the garden. Alexa definitely needed a bit of time on her own. She just wasn’t the socialising type. He had been looking for her for quite a while now. Since they were basically the only teenagers on this party he had been ever so slightly bored. Also the level of intoxication became quite prevalent in his being. It wasn’t like he was completely drunk, just slightly intoxicated, with the obvious consequences. As he was walking around he caught the sight of Alexa, sitting alone in the grass over by the tree. Happily, he skipped over to her.

“there you are” he said with relief, plopping himself down next to Alexa. With a rather loud slump he hit the floor. 

“yeah here I am not wanting to socialise, thank you very much” Alexa mindlessly said, not really wanting to engage in any kind of conversation.

“I was looking for you” he remarked, turning his head to face Alexa.

“Jackpot. You found me” she said sarcastically, pulling out individual blades of grass. She was more than absent and would have preferred to be left alone, yet there he was sitting too close for her liking and talking to her.

“I am feeling lucky” he rejoiced. “we should play a game, I am bored”

“what kind of game would the fine sir like to play?” Alexa mocked.

“truth or dare, you start” he almost demanded. Alexa gave in, though she would not reveal anything she didn’t want to reveal, that was for sure.

“truth” she stated.

“do you have a crush on anyone, if so who?” he playfully nudged her in the side of her stomach. Alexa had to hold back a giggle. 

“no I don’t. boys are stupid” she said in a very monotone voice. “truth or dare?”

“truth”

“do you have a crush on anybody”

“I’d like to say no, but yes I do”

“what is that supposed to mean?”

“it’s your turn not mine”

Alexa went with truth, because she didn’t really trust him on picking out a dare for her, especially not in his not so sober state. Actually he seemed to be getting more and more intoxicated by the second.

“what do you think of me?” he spoke, looking directly into her eyes. It gave her an uneasy feeling, if it were possible she had ditched that question. At this moment she was quite unsure of how she felt about him. Did she hate him? She had to hate him, he was the rudest of people in this universe. But right now he was being alright. She decided to blame it on the alcohol in his system.

“I hate you” she said simply.

“harsh” he muttered “I’m gonna go with a dare”

“you wanted the truth and I am giving you the truth. Wait let me think of a good one” Alexa put her hand up to her chin and tilted her head upwards, in a thinking manner. She had to find a good dare, one that she could have a laugh about and also maybe use against him. Then she had a brainwave.

“you have to do the dance of single ladies” she sang out, being really content with what she came up with. 

“alright, give me the music” he said, getting up. He was actually doing it. Alexa couldn’t believe it. He was so going to regret doing this tomorrow. She put on the music and he started dancing. Nobody of the party realised, but Alexa sneakily filmed him. ‘Revenge is so sweet’ she thought. And then as he continued she just couldn’t take it anymore. Alexa broke out in a fit of giggles. It was just so funny watching him dancing awkwardly. As the music went out, he plopped himself back down to where he was sitting before. This time a little bit closer to Alexa though. Weirdly, Alexa didn’t really mind. She was still laughing her ass off.

“now it’s your turn” he said, being quite out of breath “what’cha gonna pick?”

“wait wait I need to catch my breath” she said inbetween fits of laughter. 

“you’re so cute” Michael said, barely audible, pressing a kiss on her cheek.


	6. 5

When Alexa woke up on the next day, all the memories from last night came flooding back. The one thing that she couldn’t shake off was almost the last thing of the night. That little kiss, which wasn’t even a real kiss. She hated that boy. So why the hell did she not slap him right afterwards. She had no idea.

After he had pressed an ever so soft kiss on her check, her mind went blank. Everything just seemed nice for a second. He then put his arm around her and she put her head on his shoulder. They stayed like this for a while not realising how long they had actually been there. They had also not realised that everybody already left. It just seemed so nice to the both of them. For Alexa it felt like somebody was with her, somebody was there. She had been quite alone for a long time, which left her longing for somebody to just hold her. She did not imagine the person holding her to be Michael though. She closed her eyes and just enjoyed the moment while it lasted. It was until Alexa’s mother asked them if they didn’t want to go inside, because it was getting cold. Michael said he best be going and walked off, leaving Alexa dumbfounded and quite in a daze. When she went to bed she couldn’t stop thinking about the boy she hates so much. 

Now that she was awake again her mind was racing. Why did he do that? Why did she go with it? They were hating each other so why the hell were they being like this last night? Alexa didn’t have any alcohol so why the hell was this happening? Michael did have quite a bit of alcohol in his system, so maybe that was why. She still couldn’t grasp anything so she decided to blame it on Michael’s intoxication since it seemed to be the best way to explain it. 

Going down to get some breakfast Alexa found a note on the counter:

We’re out, went to a gardening fair  
Love mom

“cool, home alone” she yawned out loud stretching her whole body. Boy was she tired. It was already 11:45 when she prepared another bowl of nesquick cereal. She definitely needed some sugar to be able to think straight. The fact that she could still feel his lips on her cheek and his arm wrapped around her body was bothering her a lot. Why was she still thinking about him? 

At the exact moment she shoved a full spoon of cereal in her mouth, the doorbell rang. Quickly, she chewed it down and made her way to the door. Only to be greeted by the one boy who had been on her mind the whole day. 

“hey” he greeted, looking rather tired. He was facing the floor, which led Alexa to think that something was wrong. 

“hey what’s up idiot” Alexa tried denying everything she had been thinking beforehand. 

“look..” he started, scratching the back of his neck “the thing is I can’t find my phone anymore and since I was here last night, maybe you found it” he trailed off. His eyes were now fixated on Alexa, making her rather uncomfortable. 

“I just go up haven’t looked yet” she said blankly. “Do you remember when you had it last, like that would make looking for it somewhat easier.” 

“well…. I remember sitting with your cousin and then you went away and I kept looking for you at that point I am sure I still had it… and then.. I don’t know” he trailed off once again. Alexa’s eyes grew wide, thinking he would just casually mention the kiss. He caught her shock. “did I do something horrible?” his eyes were on Alexa again.

“no no you didn’t” her tone was quite nervous. “let’s just go and look for your stupid phone shall we” she wanted to get rid of him as soon as possible, he was messing with her head. Somehow Alexa thought he remembered more of what he said so. Yet that would just be stupid so she let that train of thought go. Since he didn’t respond in any way other than the smallest nod ever, Alexa took care of the situation. “I’ll grab some shoes, I’ll be in the garden in a minute, you can go already”

“okay” he said and walked off. Alexa grabbed her shoes and made her way to the backdoor. Everything about this situation was weird and Alexa did not like it. She took a deep breath and then went outside. 

“how about we split up the tables, so we’re done faster” Alexa did not want to walk beside him and look for that stupid phone. He just nodded and walked to the other side of the tables. Once they searched under every table they still haven’t found anything. Alexa was getting frustrated. She knew another place where it could be but she didn’t want to mention that they were sitting there. On the other hand it was the only place were the phone could be, which meant getting rid of him, so she decided on letting him know. “We were sitting by the tree back there at one point maybe it’s there” she informed him, pointing to the huge tree at the back of the garden. 

“oh yeah right, I remember” he said, eyes locked on the floor. Alexa was drained of all blood. He remembered? How much did he remember? Alexa was gonna pass out soon, this was definitely not how she had planned it all to go down. She started walking to the tree, she needed to do something otherwise she might have actually fainted. He walked beside her, then he spoke up, tearing the ever so awkward silence “it was nice sitting there last night” he stated. Against every rational thought butterflies erupted in Alexa’s stomach. 

Instead of saying something along the lines of yeah me too she said “you smelt of alcohol really badly” and immediately she felt bad of what she had just said “you know what let’s just forget last night happened okay, it’s just weird” As soon as she had said that she got that pang in her stomach, because for some reason her heart didn’t want to forget.

“alright” he said “yesterday never happened” Once looking at the area around the tree they quickly found the phone. Alexa picked it up from the ever so green grass.

“is this the one you were looking for?” she asked holding up an iphone with shattered glass on the front. 

“yup that’s it, thanks for helping me” he said blankly.

“no problem” The whole situation was drained of any kind of happiness ever since that forgetting part. He then just walked off not saying a word and Alexa went back inside. 

Alexa shut the door. Somehow she was left with a certain kind of sadness. She was just staring at the door for a couple of minutes, not realising what she was actually doing. The fact that she had asked him to forget everything from last night gave her that ugly feeling in the gut. Somehow she didn’t want to forget. Her mind was a battlefield.

It was not like anything in particular happened. More like a nice evening and not hate filled arguments spatting ugly words at each other. Something about it made her happy, but also something was really weird about it. It didn’t quite make sense. 

The whole situation was just weird and that little kiss wouldn’t leave her mind. She could still feel his soft lips on her cheek. Immediately she slapped her face because she hated what she was feeling. He was an idiot. Period. She hated him, just like always, and last night didn’t happen. She mentally rehearsed that sentence over and over, trying to believe it. 

A few hours later she remembered another part of the night and for some reason she was feeling more vengeful than ever before. She had recorded him dancing to single ladies and that was the most hilarious thing ever. Whether it was that little bit of sadness or all the memories of him teasing her, she was determined to show somebody that video.

Much to her convenience, his friends decided to turn up that exact moment. It was now or never. She quickly made her way outside, using the backdoor, for concealing matters. Obviously she wanted to just ‘happen to bump into them’. Since they were actually quite nice, it was not such a bad thing talking to them. With evil in mind she approached them, a sweet smile gracing her face. 

“hey guys” she called from her garden.

“oh hey how’s it going” the tallest of the group, Luke, shouted back. Alexa walked over to not have to shout. She felt so good.

“good good” she replied “you’re never gonna guess what happened yesterday” she beamed. She wanted to make Michael look as stupid as possible. 

“okay, go on” he said hesitantly.

“it was my mums birthday yesterday, so obviously Michael and his parents were invited. Long story short he got a little to much of whatever alcoholic beverage there was and I made him dance to single ladies. And let me tell you it was the most hilarious thing in the entire world” Alexa could barely hold her laugh in, remembering the previous night. 

“did you film him? Please tell me you did” he was now more than interested and the other two, Calum and Ashton, were now also listening. And then there was this feeling in the pit of Alexa’s stomach again, the one that she had felt when she woke up and when he was at her door. So for some reason she felt like she shouldn’t show them the video. 

“I wish I had it on video, but I was way too busy laughing” She made the lie as believable as possible. “you guys should have seen.” She laughed even more and they seemed to believe all those lies. They then went inside, doing whatever they’re doing. Alexa was still laughing and also feeling really victorious, because for once she got at Michael and this time properly. 

It felt amazing going back to what it used to be like, after the confusion in the morning. The rest of the day she felt so giddy, because in the moment of her revenge he couldn’t do a thing and that was just so satisfying for her. She really hoped his mates would tease him so badly. Imagining that, gave her so much positive energy. Yet she couldn’t stop thinking about the other parts of that night.


	7. 6

Once again Alexa was woken up by a loud noise. This time she could definitely distinguish what the noise was. It was a familiar loud banging of certain drums and other instruments. Groaning loudly, she pulled her covers over her head, to minimize the noise, which obviously didn’t work. The only thing that happened was that she was really hot now. And all she wanted was just to sleep.

After a few attempts of trying to get back to sleep Alexa gave up and got dressed. Since she didn’t want to see those idiots she decided on staying inside with one of her favourite books, called ‘How To Fall In Love’. It was such a cliché book, but it made her cry every time she read it. She hated having such a cliché favourite book, since she was quite bitter about everything romantic. Maybe because deep down she wished to be romantic, but that would never happen, as she’s way too proud to admit that to anyone.

Having almost read half of the book, she was completely torn out of the trance she was in, when her mother burst into the room. 

“I called you, why didn’t you answer?” her mother seemed to be worried.

“I was just reading, probably didn’t hear you, sorry” Alexa said, quite absently.

“whatever, lunch is ready” her mother noted, whilst leaving the room.

Groaning, for what felt like the millionth time today, Alexa got up and went downstairs. She was actually quite hungry; her stomach did make weird noises. That book must have really distracted her, since she didn’t notice anything. When she walked into the kitchen she was met with a lovely smell of a certain kind of food she knew she liked, yet she couldn’t quite distinguish what it was. It turned out to be one of Alexa’s favourites: Pasta with Tomato Sauce.

After finishing lunch, Alexa was dragged out into the garden because her mother wanted her to help with the gardening. On the gardening fair the other day her mother bought quite some stuff, that either needed to be planted or somehow set up. Since Alexa tried avoiding arguments with basically anyone she went with it. It couldn’t that bad after all.

It actually wasn’t that bad, at least for the first half hour. Then the sun decided to make it’s appearance and basically melt Alexa’s brain off. The heat was unbearable. And then there was this other thing. The boys next door decided to have ‘practice’ again. After they had woken her up earlier today, they stopped at some point and Alexa thought that was it for today, but lord was she wrong. Alexa was so done with them. Could they not have practice at some other place, like maybe on the moon? Even a few houses further down the street would have been acceptable. But no, it was the house next to Alexa’s. Just as she thought the day couldn’t get any better, the four of them walked outside. The noise was gone now, but she had to face Michael and since last time they saw each other it was very weird and awkward, she dreaded even looking at him. Much to her surprise he also went back to the way they were acting before. 

“aw the little girl is helping her parents in the garden how sweet is that” he taunted with a sweet voice. 

“at least I’m not annoying everybody with my ‘practice’” she said sarcastically putting the word practice into air quotes. It felt so much better being mean to each other.

“just because you have no taste in music whatsoever doesn’t mean I don’t either” he said in oddly calm voice, almost as if it were a fact. However this made Alexa furious. She knew she didn’t have the immense taste in music but music did mean a lot to her. 

“this doesn’t have anything to do with music you are just making the most noise possible, besides I do have taste in music” she hissed. His rude remarks made her get up from the kneeling position she was in previously. She was beyond furious now.

“you don’t” he said simply.

“I do” she almost shouted. Why was this bothering her so much? She had no idea but she just couldn’t let it go. This time she needed to win.

“you do not” he was now also getting somewhat angry, determined to win this one.

Without giving Alexa any time to spit any word out Calum, on of his friends, spoke up. 

“can’t you guys admit you’re secretly in love with each other and make out already” he said, whilst throwing his hands up in the air. He was seemingly annoyed by this whole situation. But his statement put both Alexa and Michael in shock. The both of them didn’t know what to say. They were basically deers caught in the headlights. Michael also had a little blush creeping up his cheeks. For about a minute there was this horrible throat-clenching silence, almost as if the two weren’t breathing. 

Then Alexa decided to get herself out of this situation. Not looking at Michael for one second she awkwardly coughed and said “uhm I gotta go” and made her way to the backdoor as quickly as possible.

Once Alexa was inside, Michael spoke up, quite furiously. “What the hell man?” he almost shouted at his friend.

“Dude it’s obvious” Calum tried defending himself.

“no it’s not I hate her can’t you see that” Michael said a little to quick. 

“whatever” Calum rolled his eyes “let’s get going then” he said being fed up with this whole situation.


	8. 7

A few days ago Alexa got a call from one of her friends, asking if she’d want to go to a party later that week. Alexa denied the offer in the first place, but after some convincing and a few ‘nobody wants to go with me’s from her friend, she agreed. She didn’t like the idea though, since parties were not quite her thing, especially not houseparties, where a lot of drunken teenagers would dance rather ridiculously to some kind of rather shit music. It just wasn’t how she wanted to spend her Saturday evening but hey there was no going back now. 

In the afternoon before the party Alexa was sitting in her room not sure of what to wear tonight. She did want to look good, but she didn’t have anything in her closet that would look good on a party. Her closet was full of clothes, but since she was more of a ‘homegirl’ she didn’t own any party clothes. She would have also not felt comfortable in a short black dress or what not. Having about an hour before her friend would pick her up she decided on doing her make-up and then get back to fashion. Once done with that, she was fed up and decided on jeans shorts and a plain black top. Soon her friend was here and the party was about to start. Great.

At the actual party she was greeted by a boy she had never even seen before. There was loud music coming from inside and Alexa already dreaded all of this. The whole house was full of intoxicated teenagers and Alexa literally knew nobody. And wouldn’t it be perfect already, after five minutes her friend had abandoned her and she was on her own standing by a table in the corner. The music in the room and the fact that basically the whole room, which was like a lounge room was filled with smoke gave her a headache. She decided on going to sit outside and text her friend where the hell she is. 

When she sat down on the front porch of the house she could see all the stars shining brightly from the sky. She wondered if somebody else was watching the stars at this exact moment. Probably. She wondered if somebody else was trying to escape a stupid party by searching comfort in the stars. Less probable. The stars were another thing why Alexa liked the night so much. They were very fascinating to her. Just as she was quite at peace with herself, being alone, she heard the door shut behind her, which made her jump. Two footsteps and a loud plonk later a certain boy was sitting next to her.

“can’t you sit somewhere else” she scoffed, not even looking at him.

“well I’m sorry I didn’t knew you owned this house as well” he said, scooting a bit further away from Alexa. Surprisingly he didn’t have any alcoholic beverage with him. Alexa took a glace at the boy sitting next to her. The streetlights shone an ever so slight ray of light upon his face, which made his features really soft and his eyes really dreamy. The way on side of his face was lit up and the other one was basically in the dark was very artistically pleasing. If it weren’t the boy she hated so much, Alexa would’ve definitely taken a picture. 

Minutes must have passed and Alexa was staring at him the whole time, while he had his gaze fixed on the distance. Somehow there was no awkward silence, somehow they were just enjoying each other’s company. A bit like the other day under the tree in Alexa’s garden. 

“They say we’re all made of stardust, do you think that’s possible?” he wondered out loud, eyes still fixated on the distance. Alexa still had her eyes on him.

“it’s true actually” Alexa stated, now looking down on her hands in her lap.

Michael now turned his head to face Alexa. Her face was beautifully lit by the ever so soft light of the streetlights. “Really?” he asked with a hint of surprise.

“Yeah, that one element, I think it is carbon, which is what we’re made of essentially, can only be made in the core of stars, so technically yes we are made of stardust.” Alexa explained, fiddling with her hands. Her gaze was still locked on her lap. 

“that’s really cool” he spoke. He scooted ever so slightly closer to Alexa, she didn’t notice though. “thinking about it means that those sparkly things we see out there will at some point be humans or something else” he looked at Alexa again. “don’t you think that’s amazing?”

“I guess so” she said mindlessly, although being really fascinated by that exact thought. She would never agree with Michael though.

“why are you out here alone anyways, did you come alone?” he asked all of a sudden. 

“I came with a friend but she left me for some other guys, typical, so I went outside cause it was really stuffy inside” Alexa sighed. “I am actually gonna go home soon, since she doesn’t even bother to reply to my texts.” Alexa said, whilst getting up from the front porch. 

“are you gonna walk?” he asked with a confused expression.

“yeah?” Alexa made it seem like it was the most obvious thing. “it’s just a few blocks”

“no it’s not” he stated “at least let me walk you home”

“I am not twelve thanks mum” she muttered. The last thing she wanted was to walk home with him. Couldn’t he just leave her alone for once?

“I was gonna get going anyways, so we kinda have to go together” he stated. 

“I hate you” she said simply

Michael didn’t respond. They just started walking. For most of the way they didn’t say one word. Then Michael broke the silence. “why were you at the party in the first place?”

“my friend convinced me to go” she said half-heartedly. For once it was actually the truth. She didn’t want to go and her friend made her and then abandoned her. Although she wasn’t actually angry, she was kind of used to it. 

“not the nicest of friends first convincing you to go and then leaving you alone” he said. 

“nothing new” Alexa said plainly. 

“bitch” he coughed, in a concealing manner, which made Alexa smile. She looked down trying to hide the smile creeping up her face, hoping Michael wouldn’t notice. But he was right, her friend wasn’t the nicest person. 

The walk back home was longer than Alexa had imagined and since it went through a little forest she was actually glad that somebody was there with her. It still was Michael but god knows who would lurk there. It was dark and really eerie so Alexa unconsciously walked a little closer to Michael. For a slight moment their hands touched sending electricity throughout their bodies. Yet they both denied it immediately. From that point on the conversation died down completely until they reached their houses about half an hour later. 

“thanks for walking home with me” Alexa spoke.

“no problem” he smiled, looking straight into her eyes, which made her look down. The next moment he pulled her into a hug, and without even thinking about it she returned it. So they were standing there, in the middle of the street just hugging it out. Once they pulled away Alexa had to fight a smile really badly. She couldn’t really though and faced her feet. 

“I still hate you, just so you know” she said in voice that was not supposed to be so tiny. 

“I would never forget that” Michael said, also hiding a smile, whilst looking down to his shoes. “Goodnight Alexa” he added simply.


	9. 8

Ever since Alexa went to that party everything has been weird. She was now thinking about the boy next door more as she would have liked to. Every two seconds she had to remind herself that he was in fact an asshole and that she hated him. But something about that hug made her think differently. She was more than torn apart. How could he suddenly be nice to her? And why was that?

However much she tried to find a reason, she simply couldn’t. A fact she couldn’t deny was that she couldn’t stop thinking about him. Whatever she did, he was on her mind. She liked reading romance novels, which requires imagining the cheesiest plotlines. She basically couldn’t do that without thinking of somebody Alexa actually hated. 

Why couldn’t she stop thinking about him? He was teasing her for such a long time and always making her days as worse as possible, so why was she even wasting one thought on him? He was an idiot. Period. 

Alexa wasn’t the only one who was going mad. Michael had been painting out scenarios in his head after that one hug. The fact that Alexa had to bite down a smile after they hugged was enough for him to never stop thinking about the bitter girl next door. On the one hand he really wanted to talk to her, because that time when they were sitting on the porch of somebody’s house, they had a fairly interesting conversation. Somehow it just seemed natural. Yet on the other hand he knew that it would never happen, he would not have the guts to just talk to her. He would probably end up teasing or sassing her. God sometimes he was so stupid.

As much as Michael would have liked to stay inside of his room and play some videogames he needed to go to town. He quickly fixed up his hair in the mirror before walking out the door. His phone buzzed once he was outside so he pulled it out of his pockets and replied to the text he just got. Whilst doing that he kept on walking, obviously not looking where he was walking. 

Then it happened. With a loud thump he hit his head on the streetlight. He slumped down on the floor in front of the streetlight. For a second his vision blacked out, but soon he heard muffled laughter from a familiar voice. Alexa.

Alexa had been sitting outside, enjoying a new book in the morning sun on the front porch. When suddenly she was torn out of the adventures by a loud thump and a few cuss words. As she looked up, she couldn’t stop laughing. Actual Michael Clifford had hit his head on the streetlight and now he was sitting in front of it, quite in a daze. The fact that he didn’t get up straight away worried Alexa a little bit.

Still laughing she made her way over to him. “you should watch where you’re going” she teased. “are you alright tho?” she asked sincerely.

“yeah fine thank you” he wasn’t so amused by the situation and didn’t really want to face Alexa in this moment of shame. 

“can I get you something, like a glass of water?” Alexa offered.

“no thanks I said I’m fine” he muttered. 

He felt slightly dizzy, but never in a million years would he reveal that. Instead he turned his head only to reveal a big gash on the side.

“oh my god you’re bleeding” Alexa shrieked. 

“god how many times do I have to tell you I’m fine” he was now facing Alexa, annoyance prevalent in his tone. 

“firstly you are in fact bleeding and that on your head and secondly if you are so fine why don’t you just get up?” Alexa liked all the teasing. For once he was ever so slightly vulnerable, and Alexa was making the most of it. “come on I’ll help you up” Alexa offered, holding out her hand. “besides you need to get that wound cleaned up”

“I am not five, now leave me alone” he hissed.

“do I have to remind you that you are bleeding? Come on now, I won’t tell anyone” Alexa mocked. “no I am serious. You should clean it out.” She was now being more than sincere. He just shot her a death glare that should signify ‘leave me alone’ but Alexa didn’t give in. Instead she took his hand and pulled him up “Come on I can clean it out for you”

He gave in and followed her wordlessly. Alexa took him to their bathroom and sat him down on the edge of the bathtub, whilst getting out some things from the drawer. She poured some kind of liquid over a cotton pad and made her way over to the boy with bright red hair. 

“okay so this might hurt a bit, but it’s necessary” she bit down on her lip and looked at him with an apologetic expression. She really didn’t want to hurt him, contrary to every belief she ever had towards him. He just nodded. Ever so softly she tugged away the loose strands of his hair on his forehead. She tried her best to not touch the wound and also be as soft as possible. Michael shivered at every of her light touches and there was no way of concealing the goose bumps on his arms. Once she pressed the cotton pad directly on the wound he flinched slightly to which Alexa responded with a very silent sorry. His hands were on the edge of the bathtub as well, making sure he wasn’t falling backwards. From all the dabbing Alexa did, his knuckles were white as a wall and his eyes were closed. It burned like hell, but there was no way in hell he would admit to that, not in front of Alexa. Putting the cotton pad in the bin, Alexa grabbed a clean one to clean all up around the wound. Michael left his eyes closed. It didn’t hurt anymore, it was more of enjoying the ever so soft touching of a cool cotton pad. He also didn’t realize when Alexa was finished and left his eyes shut, just sitting there.

“You’re done now, I won’t torture you any longer” she said with a smile, tearing him out of his daze. “do you want something to drink?” she asked putting all the things she needed before back in place.

“yeah that’d be cool” he said quite absently. He was still thinking about the way Alexa’s fingers were tugging away his hair, being as soft as ever. No matter how hard he tried he just couldn’t stop thinking about her. 

Back downstairs Michael awkwardly sat at the table, whilst Alexa was getting a glass of water for him. Once she handed it to him she sat down opposite of him, pulling out her phone and reading something on there. Michael couldn’t help but look at her. How her brown hair was falling around her face and how she was biting down her lip in concentration. He tried not to look at her and faced his hands on the table instead, but only a second later his eyes were back on her, fighting a smile. Alexa, however, didn’t notice any of this, she was fixated on the small screen of her phone. Only when Michael decided to speak, she was torn out of her concentration.

“I was just wondering” he said, fidgeting with his hands “why did you help me, and not just leave me sit there on my own?”

“I just don’t like seeing people in pain, I guess, not even you” Alexa tried making clear of the situation. Although there was also a tiny bit of her that couldn’t see Michael in pain, which she obviously denied.

“well, thanks anyways, it was really nice of you” he spoke after a small silence. His eyes went to Alexa who was now also looking at him and for one split second they both melted. Then they quickly looked away, reminding themselves that they actually hate each other. The air around them was now awkward as ever. Both of them didn’t dare to say a word and they just sat there, in silence.

“What’s your favourite colour?” Michael asked all of a sudden, desperate for something to talk about. Alexa was quite startled that he broke the silence. 

“uhhm” she suddenly forgot every colour ever. Looking into Michael’s eyes, she couldn’t say anything else “you know that turqoisy-greeny grey, that’s really pretty”

“wow that was really specific” he stated, looking down on his hands on the table. 

“what about you?” Alexa asked in a soft voice, biting down a smile. She couldn’t help but enjoy his presence, something she’d never thought she’d think.

“I don’t know really.. black I guess” he answered. “what did you have for breakfast today?”

“wow that’s not at all weird to ask” she couldn’t help but laugh at the unexpected question. “uhm I don’t actually know, god I am such a godfish” Michael looked up from his hands only to be met with Alexa’s eyes on him. This time he caught her staring and this time he had to bite down a smile. 

They continued with this question game, which basically consisted of Michael asking the weirdest questions ever and the both of them having to bite down a lot of smiles and suppress so many giggles. As the afternoon went on they completely lost track of time and didn’t notice that it was already 6pm, which meant Alexa’s mother would be home soon. Only moments after she was bursting into the kitchen, not expecting anyone to be there, especially not Michael and Alexa, conversing happily. 

“oh hi Michael, nice to see you” Alexa’s mother said, being quite confused with this situation.

“hi Mrs Devito, nice to see you too” Michael said, not letting the awkward air touch him. 

“what time is it even mum?” Alexa asked

“it’s around 6pm honey” her mother answered, making Alexa cringe at the word honey. Normally she would have been fine with it, but since Michael was in her presence she would have rather died than hearing that. 

“oh my god really?” Michael asked quite shocked. “I was supposed to go to town to get something, I should get going then” he said, getting up from his chair. Him and Alexa both walked out the dining room, to the door. He put on his shoes and Alexa watched him. Once he got back up he looked directly into Alexa’s eyes. 

“thanks for today” he almost whispered

“no problem” Alexa said, facing the floor. She was then wrapped into a tight hug, which she immediately returned. There was this one thing about Michael she could by no means deny: He did give the best hugs ever. The hug lasted longer than just a friendly hug, that was for sure. Yet when they broke apart both of them just wanted to hug it out again, but they didn’t. Michael opened the door saying a quick goodbye and then walking off, leaving the door to shut itself. 

Alexa just stood in the hallway smiling like an idiot. She didn’t know what it was about him, but for some reason she didn’t seem to hate him as much as she did ever before.


	10. 9

It was one of those days where just everything was shit. Ever since Alexa had woken up she felt like crying. Nothing in the world was worse than days like those. Okay maybe she was wrong. There was a thing worse than that: days like those with your parents constantly picking on you. 

When she went down to get breakfast, her parents were making the biggest of scenes, because Alexa hadn’t put the bowl she used last night in the sink. Being quite tired still, Alexa didn’t really want to have any kind of confrontation, but her parents weren’t having any of that. The moment she walked into the kitchen her mother started out:

“it’s one thing you have to do and you can’t even do that” she said in a furious tone.

“what are you talking about?” Alexa asked, yawning. 

“what I am talking about? You are actually asking me that?” her mother almost shouted. 

“god” Alexa rolled her eyes. That was when Alexa’s mother snapped.

“you can stop being so cocky right now or something will happen” she was now screaming causing tears to form in Alexa’s eyes. She bit them down. 

“you know what I’m not even hungry anmore” Alexa said, making her way outside of the kitchen.

“not so fast my lady” her mother pulled her on her arm

“ooow” Alexa winced. Whenever her mother was really angry with her she became really rough. The grip on Alexa’s forearm was hard and she had to try hard not to cry. 

“first you’re gonna clean that up” her mother dragged her to the sink. She watched Alexa clean it up with evil glares. Once Alexa was finished she went straight to her room, skipping breakfast. Her stomach did a few weird sounds, she decided on ignoring that. 

Sitting on her bed, she still felt like crying. It was not much of what had happened earlier, it was just the vibe of the whole day. Everything seemed so off today and she just felt like crying. Nothing could make her feel better, not even a book. To be fair she didn’t even try, she didn’t want to. A few hours of self pity later her dad burst into her room.

“lunch is ready, come downstairs” he said quite emotionless.

“I’m not hungry” Alexa answered even more monotonous. She was more than hungry, but she just didn’t want to face anybody right now, especially not her mother.

“just come downstairs” he said in a stern voice.

Avoiding yet another argument Alexa got off her bed and walked downstairs. She sat at her usual spot picking out food. Right then she didn’t feel like eating at all, even if she was hungry as balls. Her parents didn’t seem to notice though, mostly because they were getting into a heated argument about some shit. Alexa didn’t get it but it made her very upset, when the two people closest to her were repeatedly shouting awful words at each other. It was not even about or directed to her yet it made her feel horrible. If she didn’t leave now she would start to sob uncontrollably. It was only lunchtime but this day was already enough for Alexa. She walked outside, through the backdoor, to get some air.

Once she was sat down on a chair she pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She just couldn’t hold it in anymore. Tears started to spill from her eyes, which she squeezed shut. She didn’t want to make a sound, but that didn’t work. Silent sobs escaped her lips and her whole body was shaking. She was a mess.

When Michael walked outside of the house he swore he heard somebody crying. Shaking it off, he kept on walking until he heard a louder sob. Who could that be? It sounded like it came from Alexa’s house, but that couldn’t be could it. Never the less he followed the heart-breaking sounds, which led into Alexa’s garden. It turned out to be Alexa herself, crouched in a chair not looking up. Cautiously, he walked up to her. She must have heard him because she tilted her head upwards. Red eyes with dark circles underneath and tear-stained cheeks looked up at Michael, who was at loss of words. 

“I’m fine leave me alone” Alexa managed to croak out, burying her head into her legs again.

“you’re not” he said simply. 

He pulled a chair close to her, put his arm around her and started rubbing circles into her shoulder. First Alexa was very stiff because of what he did, but slowly she relaxed and put her head on his shoulder. With the other hand he pulled her closer, basically hugging her. Another few sobs came from Alexa to which Michael responded with pulling her in tighter and slightly squeezing her. 

“shhhhhh” he said in a soothing tone, bearly audible, rubbing her back. He could feel Alexa’s body shake under his hug, which was horrible. Pulling her even tighter was the only thing he could think of doing. In effect to that she nuzzled her head into his chest. 

Slowly Alexa was getting more silent and less shaky. His fingers were still drawing shapes onto the small of Alexa’s back. Even though the position they were in was horribly uncomfortable, it was one of the nicest moments ever. Never had Alexa have somebody to hold her when she was crying her heart out. She felt so safe in his arms. 

“do you wanna talk about it?” Michael whispered very silently. Alexa considered saying even anything, mostly because she knew her voice would be very shaky.

“it’s been a rough day” she croaked out. “you know my parents they were constantly getting at each other and I don’t know” tears were forming in Alexa’s eyes yet again. She let out a shaky breath. “it’s stupid really” she smiled sadly, a single tear rolling down her cheek. “but it affects me so much and I hate it” she shook her head, letting out another sad laugh.

Michael didn’t say anything, he just kept stroking her back, soothing her. He didn’t really know what to say either, so he decided not to ruin the moment. Alexa contemplated on elaborating the topic any further, but that would only mean a lot more tears so, she decided against it. She closed her eyes instead and just enjoyed the moment. 

“thank you” she mumbled against his chest after a while of silence. He didn’t say anything. He just kissed the top of her head, to which she responded with a lovely smile.

They were sitting there, embracing, for quite some time. Something about it made the both of them feel really, really good. They would have probably fallen asleep right there, if it wasn’t for Alexa’s stomach making the loudest grumbling noise ever.

“someone’s hungry, huh?” Michael said, tilting his head, a sweet smile on his face. 

“kinda haven’t eaten anything today” Alexa confessed, fixing her gaze on the floor. 

“why would you do that?” he asked quite shocked.

“today was hella shit and I didn’t feel like eating at all” she said, not wanting to give away too much. 

“well that means you need to eat something as of now, come on we’ll get some food” he said, wanting to get up, to which Alexa only groaned, because it was so nice being cuddled into Michaels chest. He, however was determined to get some food, so he started poking her sides. Alexa, the most ticklish person in the entire universe, shrieked out loudly, jumping up.

“god I hate you” she breathed out.

“come on now” he offered her a hand to get up.

“I look like shit I am going nowhere” Alexa protested. 

“you look fine, now let’s go”

“no I don’t I have been crying for god knows how long I look like a mess” Alexa tried to reason, but he wasn’t having any of that. Instead he just picked her up and carried her over to his car.

“Michael let me down” Alexa laughed, whilst hitting his back repeatedly. She couldn’t help but smile when she was sat on the passenger seat. There was something about this boy she thought, completely forgetting about hating him a few days ago. 

“Burger King or McDonald’s?” he asked, igniting the engine. 

"I don't care really” Alexa answered mindlessly. She was looking out the window the whole time they were driving, not bothering about having a conversation. When he pulled up to the drive through of McDonald’s, she was almost lost in thoughts.

“what do you want to eat?” he asked.

“I’ll have chicken nuggets I think” she answered quite absently. 

“is that all?” he wondered. Not receiving any other answer Michael ordered a Big Mac for himself, a box of chicken nuggets for Alexa and two portions of fries for them to share. Alexa must have definitely been more hungry than just a box of chicken nuggets. Paying the cashier and handing the bags of delicious smelling food to Alexa, he drove off. After a short drive, he pulled into what seemed an abandoned parking lot and stopped the car there. He got out of the car and motioned for Alexa to do the same. Once outside he hopped onto the hood of the car, Alexa doing the same with the food in her hands. 

Once Alexa had bitten into the first of her chicken nuggets she felt so good. She didn’t even realise she was that hungry but damn that did feel so good. Michael watched her in amusement as she let out moans, whilst biting into her food. That smile never left his face.

As they were finished they layed down on the window of the car, looking up into the blue sky. Alexa didn’t even know what time it was and her parents were probably looking for her, but in this moment she couldn’t care less. Everything was alright for a second, and she had to cherish every bit of it. 

“why did you come looking for me?” Alexa asked, still looking up in the sky.

“I heard somebody crying so I was intrigued” he stated.

“and why didn’t you make fun of me when you saw it was me?” Alexa wanted to know why he was being so nice all of a sudden. He was not drunk this time, so what was it?

“that would be kinda awful wouldn’t it” he said, turning his head so that he was now facing Alexa. She was still looking up into the sky.

“yeah but..” Alexa trailed off, not sure of what to say.

“but what?” Michael inquired.

“but it was me” she said, stressing the word me. She now also turned her head and she was met with the most beautiful eyes. Ever since she had seen Michael for the first time she thought he had beautiful eyes. Never did she think she would ever be this close to him, after all she hated him. 

“you were still crying” he said, also stressing the word you, kind of mocking Alexa. “I couldn’t just let you sit there cry all by yourself”

“whatever” she said looking up into the sky again. 

As they were laying there, their hands were awfully close to each other. One of them only had to move their hand a millimetre and they would have touched. Michael saw and considered it, but didn’t have the guts to do anything about it. 

Alexa later shuffled in her position also moving her hand, when she touched Michael’s. Once again there was this spark, but this time Michael took the chance and grabbed her hand. She didn’t say anything. She only felt her heartbeat rise to an alarming rate. Yet she calmed down when Michael began stroking her hand with his thumb. As innocent this gesture was, it meant so much to Alexa. It made all the butterflies go crazy in her stomach. Alexa shuffled again, trying to find a comfortable position. She decided on moving closer to him, and resting her head on Michael’s shoulder. In response to that he rested his head on hers. And even though it was the middle of the afternoon, they both closed their eyes.


	11. 10

After they had almost fallen asleep on the hood of Michael’s car in the middle of the afternoon the day before, something changed. Somehow there was no need to spit hateful comments and teasing remarks at each other. Somehow they wanted to see each other. 

Alexa was sitting outside when Michael saw her from his bedroom window. She was sitting under her beloved tree, reading a book. He used to tease her about her books all the time, when in reality he had always secretly thought it made her smart. Never in a million years would he admit that though. 

He kept watching her, contemplating going outside to talk to her. Since his mum wanted him to take the trash out he had somewhat of an excuse. Walking outside Alexa had heard his door and walked up to him. All day she wanted to see him, but internally denied that fact, of course. When their gazes met Alexa couldn’t help but smile. In the process she looked down, hiding the goofiest of all smiles. Michael noticed and engulfed her in the biggest hug. Almost squeezing her with his large hands he earned a giggle from Alexa. 

“hi to you too” she managed to say against his chest.

“hi” he said in an ever so silent voice. Somehow there was no oddity about that little greeting. When they pulled apart, they started conversation just as best friends would, not even thinking about just a few days before when they hated each other. 

“last night I found this video” Michael said in between laughing “It’s hilarious, you have to watch it” he managed to get out. He was laughing so hard he couldn’t speak. Handing Alexa his phone he had to wipe away tears from laughter. When the video started playing Michael lost it even more and Alexa’s smile turned into the loudest laughter. She didn’t know what it was about animals doing stupid things to even more stupid music that was so funny, but she just couldn’t help it. There were also tears in her eyes from laughing so hard.

“why is this so funny?” Alexa asked completely out of breath from laughing

“I have no idea” Michael laughed. 

They replayed the video another time and still found it funny as ever, when Michael’s friends turned up for their daily practice. As they were walking up to the house they were looking at each other in confusion as to why the hell those two were talking and laughing. They couldn’t grasp it. Last time they were shouting nasty stuff at each other and suddenly they are laughing together, looking like best friends. Alexa noticed them and skipped over to them.

“oh hi guys” she said, hugging all of them individually, as if they had been best friends for ever. It wasn’t like they didn’t like Alexa, they were just very confused. 

“uhm hi” Calum said, looking at Alexa with his head tilted to one side. 

“what” Alexa asked, not seeing any weirdness in the situation whatsoever.

“nothing” he said, dropping the subject. 

The boys proceeded going inside and Alexa went back to her book. Once inside the questioning began.

“okay what the hell was that?” Calum asked, still having no clue.

“what do you mean?” Michael countered, not giving in just yet. 

“dude you were acting like best friends, when two days ago you wanted to kill each other” Luke joined in with the conversation. The four of them were walking downstairs to the basement, to practice. 

“I never wanted to kill her” Michael stated plainly.

“but you never wanted to laugh over whatnot with her either” Calum said, as if that was a fact. 

“never said that” Michael said half-hartedly. 

“you like her don’t you” Luke asked.

“dude” Michael answered, being quite startled by the question. To be honest he didn’t know himself. Did he like Alexa? To be fair they had shared quality time over the past few days and not picking on her seemed to be very nice as well. He would not admit to that though. “I was just being nice for once, that doesn’t mean I’m in love immediately.” He tried to reason as well as possible. The boys however didn’t buy that. 

“we never said anything about love” Ashton spoke, raising on eyebrow at Michael. He didn’t know how to answer that. He definitely didn’t want to drag Alexa but he also didn’t want to admit that there might be something about her. 

“you know what I meant” Michael turned around to grab his guitar. The only thing he wanted to do right then was start practice, but his friends weren’t having any of that.

“do you like her or not?” Calum said.

“can’t you just leave me alone” Michael said, avoiding the boys’ gazes.

“not until you answer the question” Calum teased. 

"what question?" Michael said, pretending he didn’t hear the other part of their conversation. 

“do you like Alexa?” Calum repeated, his gaze fixated on Michael.

“I don’t know okay” Michael admitted. 

“ooooo Mikey’s got a chrush” Luke sang.

“shut up Luke” Michael said, hiding a blush. “I swear to go if you say anything to her I’ll kill you” Michael warned. The boys were just happy that they got him to admit that there was something about her. But they were not stopping there. 

“soooo how long have you been eyeing her like that?” Luke teased. 

“that’s none of your business” Michael snapped.

“so you have liked her for longer than we know” Calum joined in once again. 

“guys can’t we just practice?” Michael said, not wanting to give anything away, since he knew very well they would be telling her everything. 

“yeah whatever lovebug” Calum teased.

“Shut up”


	12. 11

Alexa tried denying everything but that didn’t work. She was falling for this boy and she couldn’t do anything about it. He was on her mind all the time and whenever she saw him she just wanted to run up to him and hug him, because let’s face it his hugs were the best thing in the entire universe. 

Whatever she was doing he was on her mind. Every now and then she just began smiling out of nowhere, which left everybody around her really confused. She had also dropped a few things, which let her mother wonder, because normally Alexa wasn’t the clumsy type. After a while of watching Alexa sit on the couch by herself, smiling like an idiot, her mother decided to confront her. 

“alright, sweety, what’s going on” her mother said, walking into the living room, a cup of tea clutched in her hands. She sat down next to Alexa looking at her expectantly.

“nothing” Alexa dismissed. She didn’t even come to terms with the fact herself, so she was not going to tell her mother about it. 

“I can tell something’s up, I am your mother after all” her mother raised an eyebrow at her.

“what are you talking about?” Alexa said, hiding the biggest of smiles and also a slight blush on her cheeks. God he was messing with her head. 

“honey you’re in a giddy mood almost all day, you constantly smile and you keep dropping things everywhere.” Her mother reasoned. 

“I am not” Alexa stated simply, trying to be as cool about this situation as possible. 

“you are, I can see that” her mother said, nudging Alexa’s side. 

“mUM” she almost shouted. The butterflies were going crazy, because she was so close to admitting that something was going on between her and Michael, yet she didn’t even know what it was.

“honey, ever since Michael was here-“ Her mother started but was immediately cut off by her daughter. 

“it’s not about Michael” Alexa squealed, her cheeks as red as tomatoes. “I’m gonna go to my room” Alexa announced. “besides boys are stupid and dramatic, I wouldn’t want anything to do with any of them” she called from the hallway. Her mother was not going to get it out of her, that she was in fact falling head over heels for that boy she used to hate. 

“dinner’s ready in a few though” her mother called, which made Alexa turn on her heels. She loved food more than anything ever. So was she going to get food and inevitably talk to her mother or was she going to have a grumbling stomach for the rest of the evening? She went with the first option. 

“I’m coming” Alexa announced from the stairs. 

“thought I’d get you with food” her mother smiled.

“I am not going to tell you anything” Alexa warned. 

The two of them were sitting in silence, eating their delicious food. Ever so often Alexa’s mom made an attempt to speak, but stopped herself, because she knew Alexa would leave her half eaten food and storm off. But the curiosity was eating her alive. Once Alexa had scooped up the last piece of food on her plate, nothing was stopping her mother. 

“so who is it on your mind then?” her mother asked.

“nobody, I told you no body” Alexa stated as plainly as possible, emphasizing the words no and body separately. 

“we both know that’s not true” her mother reasoned, crossing her arms in front of her chest. Alexa proceeded putting the dirty dishes into the sink, as a kind of escape from the conversation. That was obviously not working. Her mother kept on boring her with questions.

“it is about that Michael isn’t it?” her mother asked. 

“no” Alexa answered way too quickly, whilst her cheeks flushed in a very red tone. “he’s a fuckboy” she said as calmly as possible, whilst walking out of the room. 

⨉⨉⨉⨉⨉⨉⨉⨉⨉⨉⨉⨉⨉⨉

Alexa was not the only one being bored by questions though. Michaels friends were getting at him with questions and teasing just as much as Alexa’s mother was, maybe even a slight bit more. He couldn’t deny that Alexa was driving him mad and he could certainly not hide that from his friends. 

“come on tell us, why’d you change your mind so soon” Calum teased. 

“I’m not going to tell you idiots anything, besides there is nothing to say” Michael stated quite calmly. 

“look it’s so obvious” Calum said “you have fallen for her, big time.”

“no I haven’t” Michael said in a voice that was a bit to high to be telling the truth. 

“dude” luke just said. “he’s right”

“can’t you just leave me be” Michael was now seemingly annoyed. 

“not until you admit to it” Luke said quite emotionless.

“goddamn it guys there is nothing going on how many times do I have to tell you” Michael almost whined. “ash tell them to shut up” Michael hoped to have at least one of his friends by his side, but he only earned a shrug from him.

“that’s not the way you look at her though” Calum went on with the questioning, raising an eyebrow at Michael. 

“me looking at her in a certain way doesn’t change anything about how she sees me” Michael admitted rather sadly. He did like her, but he was about one hundred per cent sure she would never like him, after all they had been hating on each other for god knows how long. 

“really?” Luke asked looking at him as if he just said the earth was a disc. 

“what?” Michael said equally confused. 

“dude she looks at you the same way you do at her.” Calum stated. 

“no she doesn’t” Michael snapped.

“yes she does you just don’t see it, you gotta do something about this” Luke said. 

“and what do you have in mind?” Michael asked, being kind of scared of what they would make him do. 

“you go over there and tell her how you feel about her, right now” Calum said, pulling Michael up from the sofa he was sitting on. 

“no way” he shouted “no way in hell I am going to do that”

“ahw don’t be such a chicken” Luke teased. “so you do like her a lot?”

“leave me alone” Michael said, his cheeks turning the pinkest shade of pink ever.


	13. 12

A few days had passed and the two of them had been texting ever since they had exchanged phone numbers. Whenever Alexa’s phone buzzed the biggest grin appeared on her face. Mostly because she just knew it was Michael texting her.

Her mother often asked why she’s smiling at her phone, and Alexa never had a proper answer but the blush on her cheeks would be answer enough for her mother. 

Michael’s friends would always complain about how he was on the phone all the time. How he would never concentrate when they were gaming. When they once snatched his phone from him, he got really angry, because by no means ever would he want them to see all the stupid messages he had been sending. They would just confirm that he’s in way too deep.

One night Alexa was laying in her bed awake in the middle of the night. She couldn’t sleep no matter how hard she tried. She decided to text Michael, maybe he was awake as well.

 

[3:13] _Hey_

She was quite positive he would not respond, so she was rather surprised when she heard her phone vibrate.

 

[3:14] _What’s up?_

 

[3:14] _I can’t sleep, tell me sth_

[3:15] _like what do you want me to tell you?_  

 

[3:16] _something nice, so I will fall asleep_

_idk I just cant fall asleep_

_why are you awake anyways?_

[3:18] _Couldn’t sleep either_

_There’s something else I could do to make you fall asleep you know_

[3:19] _and what is that_

_should I be even asking_

[3:20] _where did your mind go ms devito?_

_I am appalled_

[3:20] _you’re an idiot_

_are you gonna tell me what you actually meant_

[3:21] _I could come over and cuddle you_

_I bet you’d fall asleep in no time_

[3:23] _are you serious?_

[3:23] _Yeah??!?_

 

Thinking about it, Alexa liked the idea of having somebody next to her, whilst she falls asleep. She had this really weird dream before that she just couldn’t shake off. Whenever she tried going back to sleep the images would return and she would freak out just again. But she also knew that she was by no means allowed to have a boy sleep in her bed.

 

[3:24] _my parents are gonna kill me if they find out_

[3:25] _well then they won’t find out_

_;)_

_omw_

[3:26] _besides it’s raining_

_just fyi_

[3:27] _idc_

[3:31] _you can either very silently come downstairs and open the backdoor equally silently or i‘ll knock_

_;)_

[3:32] _I hate you_

[3:33] _that’s no news_

As Alexa walked downstairs, she couldn’t help but smile. He was actually coming to her house in the middle of the night, he was such an idiot. When she opened the backdoor as silently as possible, she was met a pair of green eyes, glistening in the minimal light.

“hi” he whispered, looking directly into Alexa’s eyes. They were really beautiful, he thought.

Alexa didn’t say anything she just pulled him in a hug. She missed this so badly. She nuzzled her head into his chest, taking in his scent. Never did she want to let go of him. Michael was quite surprised by her sudden action, but he did like it to, a lot.

 “I missed this” she announced so silently, it was almost not to be heard, but Michael heard it. In response he pulled her a slight bit closer.

 “we should probably close the door” Michael whispered against her neck, after a while, making the hairs on her neck stand up.

 “yeah we probably should” she mumbled against his chest, not wanting to let go just yet. Michael let go of her and turned around to close the door. The both of them walked upstairs in silence, being very careful to not make a sound. They wouldn’t have wanted to wake up Alexa’s parents.

 Once in her room Alexa proceeded closing the door carefully, as her door always creaked. And this night was no exception. Michael jumped slightly behind Alexa and she couldn’t help but giggle. With no warning she took his hand and tugged him over to the bed. The both of them layed down on the bed, quite far apart from each other. Somehow there was this awkward air again.

 “that’s not how you cuddle” Michael pouted, taking her hand into his. Alexa scooted a bit closer to him, still leaving some space between them. The butterflies in her stomach were going mad, but somehow she was scared.

 “alright, turn around” he whispered. Alexa turned away from him, letting go of his hand. He pulled her closer, so that now their bodies were touching. They were spooning and Alexa was the little one. The way his hand was draped over her side was making her feel really save and protected. She liked that a lot.

 “okay one second” he announced silently. He sat up, pulling the cover over the both of them. Then he went back to his previous position, pressed up against Alexa. His fingers trailed along Alexa’s sides under the cover, very carefully as if he was going to break her. Alexa couldn’t help but shiver at his touch. Somehow this was so intimate, yet not sexual in any way.

 "do you want to tell me why you were still awake?” he whispered. His face was so close to Alexa’s neck, she could feel his breath on her skin. To say it was driving her mad would be an understatement. She felt this tingling sensation and somehow she couldn’t speak. Swallowing hard, she tried to regain composure to at least say something.

 “I had a nightmare” she managed to get out. Michaels hand moved to her stomach, gripping her tightly. He wanted to make her feel as save as possible. Alexa scooted a slight bit closer, if that was even possible. “I didn’t want to sleep anymore” she whispered.

 “everything’s fine, I got you” he said ever so silently. Alexa’s hands searched for Michael’s and when they met there was this spark. This spark, that went through their bodies reaching every nerv ending. This spark that brought the butterflies in their stomachs back to live. Alexa took his hand into hers and traced her thumb along the palm of his hand.

 No matter how many times Alexa said that boys are stupid and that they only are drama. No matter how many times she said that she would never want to be with somebody, how being single was so much nicer. She would always dream of this in the back of her mind. Deep deep down she was the most hopeless romantic, she was just too proud to admit it.

 Legs and hands intertwined, bodies pressed up against each other is how they fell asleep. The both of them had never fallen asleep easier and had never slept better, than cuddled up against each other.


	14. 13

When Alexa woke up on the next day, the sun was tickling her face. She wanted to groan out loud for being woken up, but then remembered that her fingers were laced together with somebody’s. For a second she was so confused as to who the person was. Then she remembered. Michael had come over in the middle of the night. They fell asleep in each other’s arms. The memory of that brought a huge smile to Alexa’s face and also made her cheeks quite pink. 

Because it was all so cute to Alexa, she shuffled a bit in her position, scooting a little closer to Michael. The bed slightly creaked and he woke up as well.

“good morning” he whispered against Alexa’s neck. A shiver went down her spine. 

“hi” she said, turning round so she was now facing him. 

“sleep well?” he asked in a hoarse voice. That kind of morning voice did have quite and effect on Alexa and her cheeks turned rose once again. 

“yeah” she mumbled, burying her face in his chest. She took in his scent and cuddled slightly closer to him. Michael rested his hand on Alexa’s head and began combing through her hair. Alexa’s eyes fluttered shut. She completely relaxed under his touch, falling into some kind of dream. After a while her hand wandered to his side, where his shirt rose up slightly, revealing a bit of skin.

When her fingers met with his skin, Michael felt this tingling sensation. He couldn’t help but shiver at her touch. Alexa trailed her fingertips further up his back, earning a hitched breath from Michael. She definitely liked that she had an effect on him, because if he did that to her she would probably stop breathing completely, she thought. 

Michael’s eyes were closed, when Alexa decided to trail her fingertips along the side of his torso. As she moved over the sensitive skin his eyes shot open, meeting Alexa’s. Michael’s pupils were completely dialated. 

“stop” he mumbled, not being able to form anything coherent.

“why” she mused, trailing her fingers up and down his side in a teasing manner. 

“because -” he whispered, taking Alexa’s hand into his, so that she would no longer be able to touch his side. “- this is supposed to be innocent, and I don’t want to change that” he said, regaining his composure. 

“but it was so nice” Alexa pouted. She wiggled away from him in protest, wanting to get up. But Michael took her hand and yanked her back on her bed, next to him. 

“not so fast miss” he teased. A smirk appeared on his face as he thought of what he could be doing next. With one hand still holding Alexa, he took his other hand and moved it over to her side. As he lifted her shirt slightly, Alexa gasped. 

Once he had touched her side Alexa forgot how to breathe. The way his fingers moved along her side made the butterflies in her stomach go wild and her head spin. Since Alexa was still in her pyjamas, she also didn’t put on a bra yet. Another advantage for Michael. When he trailed his fingers up her side, he slightly brushed her boob, but stopped himself. Alexa on the other hand was going berserk. 

“you” she mumbled, eyes shut completely.

“what about me?” he asked teasingly, knowing exactly what he was doing. 

“you are an idiot” she stumbled out, moving his hand away from her body. “ we wouldn’t want it to loose its innocence would we” she mocked. 

“no we wouldn’t” he smirked devilishly. Alexa then got up once again, now for real. Michael just kept laying in her bed, as if it were his own. He watched her as she moved over to her closet. She was about to pull off her shirt when she realized that Michael was in fact still in her room. 

“I’m gonna get changed, don’t look” she warned, not even bothering to look at him. She was completely aware that she wasn’t wearing a bra and that he would probably peak at her. Nonetheless she took off her top. 

“I’m not looking” he said. 

Michael closed his eyes at her demand. But something inside of him was telling him to look. She would obviously be pissed at him if he did but he couldn’t help it. At the exact moment Alexa took off her top, he opened his eyes. Even though she was turned around it made his cheeks flush. Just something about her naked back made him smile. God is she beautiful he thought. As she slid up her bra and clasped it close she turned halfway around to see Michael looking directly at her. 

“I told you not to look” she squealed, covering her front with her hands. 

“I’m sorry I’m sorry” he stumbled over his own words, covering his face with his hands. 

Alexa continued changing her outfit and Michael kept peeking at her through his fingers. He was damn sure she wouldn’t notice, but she obviously did. 

“you know I can see that you’re peaking” she glared over to him.

“I am not” he protested, his cheeks turning a slight shade of pink.

“you are” she stated. She went back to dressing herself and didn’t notice Michael getting up from her bed. He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her half dressed body. Nuzzling his head into to crock of her neck, he began to speak.

“I can’t help looking at beautiful girls” he whispered, making every fibre in Alexa’s body tingle. She hated the effect he had on her. She let out a shaky breath, because the way his warm breath was hitting her neck was driving her insane. She tried to regain composure, but with him so close to her that seemed like an impossible act. Against everything she took his hands into hears and moved them away from her hips, allowing her to move away. 

“we need to get you out of the house” she breathed “before my parents notice” Michael pouted at her, all he wanted to do is snuggle back into her bed, and to be honest Alexa did too. But she also knew that doing this would get her killed, so she decided to let that thought go.

“you know you could come and watch us practice some time, maybe you’ll change your mind about it being just noise” he said all of a sudden, scratching his neck. Alexa was putting on a pair of pants and brushing through her hair. Honestly she really wanted to see them play.

“yeah that’d be cool” she said. “do you practice today?”

His eyes lit up. “yeah we do, you can just come round” he beamed. He wanted to show her how cool his band was. 

“alright.. so..” Alexa started, peaking out the door to listen where her parents were. “I’ll go down and distract them. I’ll shut the door, which is your sign to skip down the stairs and leave through the backdoor, okay?” the nerves were hitting Alexa. She never lied to her parents before, but she had to, for the sake of everything. 

“got it” he said. Before Alexa could move anywhere, he pulled her into a tight hug. “thanks for this night” he said simply. Alexa just smiled like an idiot.

“see you later” she whispered, letting go of him and walking down the stairs, the smile not leaving her face.


	15. 14

When Alexa woke up on the next day, the sun was tickling her face. She wanted to groan out loud for being woken up, but then remembered that her fingers were laced together with somebody’s. For a second she was so confused as to who the person was. Then she remembered. Michael had come over in the middle of the night. They fell asleep in each other’s arms. The memory of that brought a huge smile to Alexa’s face and also made her cheeks quite pink. 

Because it was all so cute to Alexa, she shuffled a bit in her position, scooting a little closer to Michael. The bed slightly creaked and he woke up as well.

“good morning” he whispered against Alexa’s neck. A shiver went down her spine. 

“hi” she said, turning round so she was now facing him. 

“sleep well?” he asked in a hoarse voice. That kind of morning voice did have quite and effect on Alexa and her cheeks turned rose once again. 

“yeah” she mumbled, burying her face in his chest. She took in his scent and cuddled slightly closer to him. Michael rested his hand on Alexa’s head and began combing through her hair. Alexa’s eyes fluttered shut. She completely relaxed under his touch, falling into some kind of dream. After a while her hand wandered to his side, where his shirt rose up slightly, revealing a bit of skin.

When her fingers met with his skin, Michael felt this tingling sensation. He couldn’t help but shiver at her touch. Alexa trailed her fingertips further up his back, earning a hitched breath from Michael. She definitely liked that she had an effect on him, because if he did that to her she would probably stop breathing completely, she thought. 

Michael’s eyes were closed, when Alexa decided to trail her fingertips along the side of his torso. As she moved over the sensitive skin his eyes shot open, meeting Alexa’s. Michael’s pupils were completely dialated. 

“stop” he mumbled, not being able to form anything coherent.

“why” she mused, trailing her fingers up and down his side in a teasing manner. 

“because -” he whispered, taking Alexa’s hand into his, so that she would no longer be able to touch his side. “- this is supposed to be innocent, and I don’t want to change that” he said, regaining his composure. 

“but it was so nice” Alexa pouted. She wiggled away from him in protest, wanting to get up. But Michael took her hand and yanked her back on her bed, next to him. 

“not so fast miss” he teased. A smirk appeared on his face as he thought of what he could be doing next. With one hand still holding Alexa, he took his other hand and moved it over to her side. As he lifted her shirt slightly, Alexa gasped. 

Once he had touched her side Alexa forgot how to breathe. The way his fingers moved along her side made the butterflies in her stomach go wild and her head spin. Since Alexa was still in her pyjamas, she also didn’t put on a bra yet. Another advantage for Michael. When he trailed his fingers up her side, he slightly brushed her boob, but stopped himself. Alexa on the other hand was going berserk. 

“you” she mumbled, eyes shut completely.

“what about me?” he asked teasingly, knowing exactly what he was doing. 

“you are an idiot” she stumbled out, moving his hand away from her body. “ we wouldn’t want it to loose its innocence would we” she mocked. 

“no we wouldn’t” he smirked devilishly. Alexa then got up once again, now for real. Michael just kept laying in her bed, as if it were his own. He watched her as she moved over to her closet. She was about to pull off her shirt when she realized that Michael was in fact still in her room. 

“I’m gonna get changed, don’t look” she warned, not even bothering to look at him. She was completely aware that she wasn’t wearing a bra and that he would probably peak at her. Nonetheless she took off her top. 

“I’m not looking” he said. 

Michael closed his eyes at her demand. But something inside of him was telling him to look. She would obviously be pissed at him if he did but he couldn’t help it. At the exact moment Alexa took off her top, he opened his eyes. Even though she was turned around it made his cheeks flush. Just something about her naked back made him smile. God is she beautiful he thought. As she slid up her bra and clasped it close she turned halfway around to see Michael looking directly at her. 

“I told you not to look” she squealed, covering her front with her hands. 

“I’m sorry I’m sorry” he stumbled over his own words, covering his face with his hands. 

Alexa continued changing her outfit and Michael kept peeking at her through his fingers. He was damn sure she wouldn’t notice, but she obviously did. 

“you know I can see that you’re peaking” she glared over to him.

“I am not” he protested, his cheeks turning a slight shade of pink.

“you are” she stated. She went back to dressing herself and didn’t notice Michael getting up from her bed. He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her half dressed body. Nuzzling his head into to crock of her neck, he began to speak.

“I can’t help looking at beautiful girls” he whispered, making every fibre in Alexa’s body tingle. She hated the effect he had on her. She let out a shaky breath, because the way his warm breath was hitting her neck was driving her insane. She tried to regain composure, but with him so close to her that seemed like an impossible act. Against everything she took his hands into hears and moved them away from her hips, allowing her to move away. 

“we need to get you out of the house” she breathed “before my parents notice” Michael pouted at her, all he wanted to do is snuggle back into her bed, and to be honest Alexa did too. But she also knew that doing this would get her killed, so she decided to let that thought go.

“you know you could come and watch us practice some time, maybe you’ll change your mind about it being just noise” he said all of a sudden, scratching his neck. Alexa was putting on a pair of pants and brushing through her hair. Honestly she really wanted to see them play.

“yeah that’d be cool” she said. “do you practice today?”

His eyes lit up. “yeah we do, you can just come round” he beamed. He wanted to show her how cool his band was. 

“alright.. so..” Alexa started, peaking out the door to listen where her parents were. “I’ll go down and distract them. I’ll shut the door, which is your sign to skip down the stairs and leave through the backdoor, okay?” the nerves were hitting Alexa. She never lied to her parents before, but she had to, for the sake of everything. 

“got it” he said. Before Alexa could move anywhere, he pulled her into a tight hug. “thanks for this night” he said simply. Alexa just smiled like an idiot.

“see you later” she whispered, letting go of him and walking down the stairs, the smile not leaving her face.


	16. 15

A few days had passed and none of the two had even dare to think about making a move. They had been hanging out, for sure. They had also been way more than friendly, cuddling closely and blushing to no end. A thing they had been denying was how they were feeling towards each other. His mates had constantly been telling Michael he should tell her, but he never had the guts to. 

The four of them were hanging out, playing some video games at Michael’s when the questions started again. 

“sooooooooo” Calum, teased, nudging Michael.

“so what?” Michael bit back, being so done with all those questions all day and every day. 

“how’s it going between you and Alexa?” Calum taunted an eyebrow raised. 

“I told you nothing’s going on” Michael dismissed, concentrating on the screen. He decided to not let them know about anything, because they would just be annoying. 

“bullshit” Ashton called. “you fell for her, that’s what’s going on”

“I did not” Michael hissed, even though he knew what Ashton was saying was the truth. He had fallen for her and not just a little. 

“of course you did” Calum called “whenever she’s around your whole face lights up. When you “accidentally” touch, however accidental that may be you blush to no end. Man you like her a lot. That’s no crime to admit.” Calum quite lectured. 

Michael didn’t say anything. He was quite taken aback by the sudden statement of Calum and didn’t really know how to respond. Because deep down he knew well that Calum said all the right things, but the thing was he didn’t want to admit it to his friends, because he was not even ready to admit it to himself. He swore he would not fall for girls, because love is stupid. In the end it just hurts and it was all not worth it. 

“besides I think she likes you a lot as well” Calum said quite mindlessly, tearing Michael out of his thoughts. 

“she hates me” Michael stated, looking down on his lap. 

“are you actually being serious?” Luke spoke up. Michael thought he didn’t even listen to the conversation, he seemed to be too concentrated with the game he was playing. Luke looked Michael dead in the eye. “you’re so stupid” he said, looking away again and shaking his head. 

“she basically has heart eyes whenever she sees you, besides why would she be hugging you if she hated you?” Calum asked. 

“I don’t know” Michael admitted quite silently. 

“you just gotta tell her how you feel about her” Calum said, patting Michael on the back. 

“I can’t do that” Michael stated, gaze fixated on the distance. 

“why not?” Ashton asked. 

“dude I’m way too nervous around her, I can’t just say that” Michael said matter of factly.

“goddamnit grow some balls, you’re a big boy” Calum taunted and Michael shot an evil glare in his direction. “just tell her” he dismissed, standing up and walking into the kitchen. 

Michael knew that he should tell her at some point, he just couldn’t muster up the confidence quite yet. The boys had left a while ago, which left Michael alone in his house. He wanted to see Alexa, but didn’t want to be like clingy. 

He really wanted to tell her, but there was something inside of him, that didn’t let him. Pacing along the room, he contemplated what to do. After a while of almost going nuts, he decided he would just go over and tell her. Just like that. He went outside and saw Alexa in her garden, reading a book. 

“hi” he called. Alexa’s head shot up and once she noticed Michael her eyes lit up and she skipped over to the fence.

“what’s up?” she said.

“not much” he dismissed “i just wanted to-“ he trailed of. It felt as if there was something in his throat, constricting him of his speech. “never mind” he finished.

Alexa tilted her head in confusion. “you sure about that?” she asked. 

“yeah completely” he assured, nodding. 

“i don’t believe you” she stated “but come over we can chill a bit by the pond” Alexa suggested. 

“that sounds great” he said, walking all the way around the fence. As he walked his nerves were building up. ‘this is so stupid’ he thought. There was actually a blanket layed out in front of the pond, almost as if Alexa had something planned. He quickly shook that thought away though. Why should she?

“I was reading here earlier but it got like really warm in the sun but I like left it here” she dismissed. They sat down way too far apart. For some reason there was this awkward air between them. Somehow they couldn’t really find anything to talk about at first. 

“you know sometimes I wonder if anyone on this planet thinks the exact same thing as me at the same time” Michael blurted out. 

“don’t you think your thoughts are unique?” Alexa wondered, looking up into the sky. It was a beautiful color at this time. The sun was setting, which gave it a really sweet color. Almost like cotton candy. 

“I don’t know like is that even possible to have so many different thoughts that eight million people can think different things” he tilted his head downwards and pulled out individual blades of grass. 

“yeah sure I mean you can think about the same thing over and over whilst nobody thinks about that thing” she reasoned. This explanation hit him like a rock. It was exactly what he was doing. The bubbly feeling returned to his stomach. “nobody has experienced life the way you have, so technically nobody could ever think the exact same thing” Alexa went on.

“I have never actually thought about it in this way” Michael admitted. “the world is so huge” he let out a breath. 

“we can’t even imagine how big it is” She tilted her head downwards too, facing her hands in her lap. “that really frustrates me some times you know”

“what frustrates you?” he asked, facing her. 

“the fact that I will never be able to understand let alone imagine the size of the earth, like I can barely imagine like a house like how big it is, but like the earth.. it’s huge” she said in a rather sad tone. “you know there are so many things I will never understand in depth or even at all” she let out a breath “it makes me kinda sad”

Michael didn’t know what to say. He had never had such deep and meaningful conversations with anyone. She was pouring her heart out and he didn’t know what to do. Yet there was this one thing; he could also pour his heart out. 

“but hey let’s not make this a sobstory. What’s going on?” she said in a rather cheerful tone. 

“what?” he asked dumfounded, being really confused with the quick mood change. 

"what did you have for lunch today" she asked.

“uhmmmm pizza” he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. He had no idea were this conversation was going or how she just brushed all the sadness in her tone away. He was still thinking about how he could tell her, which didn’t calm down the nerves at all. His hands were placed in his lap, where he fiddled with them, quite nervously

“what’s going on?” she asked, now facing him. “I can tell something’s up” she nudged him playfully. He swallowed in response.

“the thing is-“ he began, not really being confident enough. He was still under the impression, that Alexa might be appalled by what he was about to say. They were having a nice time, being like they are now. He didn’t want to ruin that. 

“yeah?” Alexa spoke up after a few moments of silence. She was still facing him.

“you know-“ he mumbled. “god this is so hard” he said, almost inaudible. He was seemingly frustrated with himself. Alexa was quite confused with the whole situation, so she decided not to say anything. “I really like you Alexa” he said with a bit of sadness in his tone. 

As soon as those words had left his lips the corners of Alexa’s mouth tugged upwards and she was smiling so big. He didn’t see that though, because his eyes were still on his lap, nerves still playing with his head. 

Alexa was so happy she wasn’t alone with that feeling, so she moved over a little and pressed a kiss to his cheek, making Michael’s heart skip a beat. Did she just actually give him a kiss on the cheek? A blush crept up his cheeks, which was unable to hide. Then Alexa wrapped her hands around him and whispered into his ear, making the hairs on the neck stand.

“I really like you too, you know”


	17. 16

The four boys were sitting outside in Michael’s garden having a bit of a chat. They hadn’t really done that in a long time, which was actually something they had all missed. What they were talking about was nothing special, just everyday things. Michael however wasn’t really into the conversation. His mind was somewhere else. 

“Earth to Michael” Luke said, waving his hand in front of Michael’s face. 

“sorry what” Michael mumbled, being torn out of his trance. 

“dude what’s going on? You’re being weird today” Luke explained. 

“nothing” Michael said simply, shaking his head.

“ever since we came here today you have been beaming and not paying attention to anything we say” Luke elaborated. He was not having any of Michael’s lies. “it’s about Alexa, isn’t it?”

“what? No” Michael said in a voice that was way too unconvincing. 

Calum and Ashton were quite caught up in a conversation, so it was just Luke boring him with those questions. He was actually very glad about that, because he would have absolutely had no chance against the three of them. 

“of course” Luke slid back in his chair. “your cheeks are red as tomatoes besides you’re constantly fiddling with your hands” he added.

Michael didn’t know how to respond to change the direction of the conversation, because honestly all he was thinking about was Alexa.

“something must have happened” Luke wondered “hmmm what could it be?”

“nothing happened” Michael stated, being as clear and confident as possible. 

“yeah of course” Luke shook his head. “oh my god, I know it”

“what?” Michael asked dumbfounded. 

“you told her, didn’t you?” Luke raised his voice a little, peeking the attention of the other two. 

“yeah I did” Michael admitted very lowly, eyes falling to the floor. 

“well finally you told her” Calum practically screamed. “it was about time” Michaels gaze shot up, his eyes wide. He had spotted Alexa in her garden before, she was most probably still there and she had surely just heard that.

“shut up she can hear us” Michael hissed under his breath, being quite embarrassed. “especially if you shout like that”

“alexa can you hear us?” Calum shouted, a big smile on his face, to annoy Michael mostly.

“I can hear you” Alexa shouted back, smiling broadly.

“dude I told you” Michael said a little more silent and inaudible to Alexa. His cheeks were beyond flushed. 

“awh look at you” Calum raised his voice, so Alexa could hear again “you’re all blushing and embarrassed” Alexa couldn’t help but giggle. This was so cute. 

“shut up” Michael warned, but Calum was having way too much fun.

⨉⨉⨉⨉⨉⨉⨉⨉⨉⨉⨉⨉⨉⨉

Later that day Alexa decided to invite the boys over, to have a little barbecue and maybe roast marshmallows by the bonfire. Since her parents were out, there would be no explaining to them to do either. 

They had finished their barbecue and were sitting around the bonfire, which calmly crackled on. It was a chill evening and the conversation just seemed to flow. The boys told the weirdest stories and Alexa almost died laughing at most of them. This was something she had always wanted to do, just sit around the bonfire with a few friends.

Just as Calum was in the middle of what seemed an intense story, Alexa felt something warm on her upper lip. She quickly licked it and her expectation was fulfilled. She was in fact having another nosebleed. What was up with all those nosebleeds? “I need the toilet” she excused herself, praying nobody noticed. As soon as she was gone all the looks went to Michael.

“what?” he asked.

“dude you’re not even sitting next to her” Luke reasoned. 

“and..?” Michael asked, still not getting what they were trying to imply.

“ugh you’re so stupid” Calum dismissed. “I have an idea” he said, turning to Luke. “we could just take one chair away.” He was now smirking.

“that is brilliant” Luke said, getting up and folding down one chair and putting it back to where it had been before. Quite satisfied, he sat back down in his own chair. 

“you guys are aware that she’s just gonna get that chair again” Michael stated. 

“no she won’t” Luke said matter-of-factly. “you will see”

The boys went back into some kind of conversation and soon after Alexa walked back outside. She didn’t notice the missing chair until she was almost by the bonfire. Her gaze was fixated on Michael, how the light of the fire was illuminating his face. He was for sure one handsome guy. As she realized that her chair was missing she shook her head.

“what are you guys? Like five?” she spoke up, interrupting their conversation. 

“what do you mean?” Calum asked innocently. 

“you hid my chair” she stated, crossing her arms over her chest. 

“no we just made sure you get the seating arrangement you wanted” Luke smirked, looking over at Michael, who was not daring to look up.

“what are you talking about?” Alexa said, shaking her head.

“we can all see you’d rather sit next to him” Ashton said, pointing to Michael, who was now looking up “so we’re gonna make you sit on his lap”

“I mean since he didn’t do anything we had to help out a little” Luke added. Alexa was blushing furiously, because deep down she wanted to be as close to him as possible. She shot a confused glance over at Michael, who had now regained a bit of composure and patted his legs. Alexa gave in and walked over, very carefully sitting down on his lap. 

“I’m sorry” Michael whispered only for Alexa to hear “they’re just being idiots.” At first Alexa was really tense and couldn’t relax in any way. As soon as Michael’s hands made their way to her side though she felt the tension go away. He was just fiddling with her shirt, which made Alexa really comfortable. She leaned back slightly and was now leaning against his chest. 

The two of them weren’t really paying attention to what the others were saying. They were kind of lost in each other’s arms. After a while Michael took Alexa’s hand into his and just played with her fingers, making her drift off completely. The way he delicately touched and moved them, left her in a kind of trance, almost falling asleep. It was until Luke teased her. 

“so you like your new seat” he said, smirking. 

“it’s actually quite comfortable” she stated. She wanted to sound as composed as ever, which didn’t work. The way Michael’s breath hit her neck made her head all fuzzy. “thanks for suggesting” she added. Michael let out an airy laugh, making Alexa shiver. He just kept on playing with her fingers, which made her loose all concentration ever. 

“you know what we’re gonna leave you lovebirds alone, we’re gonna head home” Ashton spoke up. 

“thanks for the food” Calum added. They all got up and started walking. 

“no problem guys” Alexa said, not wanting to get up “I’ll see you around” she said waving them goodbye. 

“don’t go too wild, your neighbours might see you” Luke teased.

"or hear you" Calum added.

“shut up” Michael hissed. 

“just wanted to warn ya” Luke laughed and then they all walked off, leaving the two alone, crouched in one chair. 

For some reason they felt really comfortable in the position they were in. The way Alexa’s head rested on Michael’s shoulder, the way he was playing with her hands, the way the fire was almost out, but still gave away a bit of light. Just enough to illuminate their faces. None of them spoke for a while, they just enjoyed the silence together. 

“you know what” Michael began, breaking the silence. “you smell so good, it kinda drives me insane” he admitted, making Alexa’s heart beat faster than ever before. 

“they say women should put their perfume where they wanna be kissed” Alexa wondered out loud. She didn’t really know how else to respond to what he had just said. “I never really knew that until like a few days ago, I had just always sprayed it on my neck” she added. She didn’t really know why she said that out loud, that was the effect he was having on her. 

“that makes sense” Michael answered. 

“does it?” Alexa asked in confusion.

“yeah” he murmured, placing his lips to Alexa’s neck the second after. The way his soft lips touched Alexa’s delicate skin on her neck made every nerv in her body tingle. The butterflies in her stomach went crazier than ever before. His feathery light kisses had Alexa going insane. She was so lost in his touch that she didn’t hear her parent’s car arriving.

“Alexa” Michael whispered against her neck “I think your parents came home” This was the phrase that pulled Alexa back into reality. 

“oh shit” she cursed out loud, getting off Michael’s lap. “we need to put out the fire quickly” She walked over to the house, grabbing the hose and putting it out. Michael was by now folding up the chairs and taking them back to the other chair, leaning against the house. 

“thanks for helping me” Alexa said as they were walking towards the house. 

“no problem” he dismissed. 

“good night” Alexa said, gripping the handle of the backdoor. But she was pulled back into one of the best hugs.

“good night Alexa” Michael whispered against her neck, making her shiver once again. They let go of each other and Alexa looked up at him, biting her lip.

“bye”


	18. 17

[13:34] _hey_

 

[13:47] _sup idiot_

 

[13:48] _rude_

 _what’s up this afternoon_?

 

[13:50] _nothing planned_

 

[13:53] _you could come over_

 

[13:55] _I’ll think about it_

 

[13:56] _what is that supposed to mean?_

 

[13:59](alien emoji)

 

[14:01] _I don’t understand_

 

[14:04] _I’m on my way ;)_

 

[14:07] _I knew it_

 

[14:10] _you knew what_

 

[14:11] _that you couldn’t resist ;)_

 

[14:13] _yeah sure_

_just open the door_

 

As Alexa was waiting in front of Michael’s door, she couldn’t help but smile. This idiot had become such a huge part in her life and even though they had just seen each other yesterday, she was kind of missing him. When the door opened, her eyes lit up. Immediately she wrapped her arms around the boy in front of her. God was he smelling nice.

“don’t you want to go inside?” he whispered after a while of hugging her. 

“you smell so goooood” she mumbled against his chest. He let out a chuckle and in response she pulled him a little tighter “I don’t wanna let gooooo”

“c’mon” he said and when Alexa didn’t reply, his hands went to her waist. Soon after, his fingertips met with the skin just above the waistband of her pants. She gasped at his touch and broke the hug up. A victorious smirk appeared on his face, to which Alexa playfully hit him. Michael took her hand and dragged her inside. Alexa thought back to the moment just before and wondered where the hell all that affection came from, when a few weeks ago they wouldn’t even look into each other’s eyes. She decided to let that thought go soon after.

“you can go downstairs already, I’ll be there in a minute” Michael announced and Alexa complied. She mindlessly walked down the stairs, into the already quite familiar basement. It was where she had watched them play for the first time. The room was actually quite big and she was standing in the middle of it, taking in all the details. She was so lost in thought that she didn’t notice Michael being behind her.

Only when Michael put his hands around her waist, she was torn out of her trance. She jumped slightly at his touch, but was immediately pulled a little closer. Nuzzling the back of her head into his chest she was met with his scent. It was that kind of scent, that would make your knees all weak. His hands moved further up Alexa’s body, stopping just below her boobs. Alexa’s heart began beating really fast at his gentle touch and very close proximity.

They stood there like that for a few moments, until Michael decided to make a move. He tilted his head downwards until he was only an inch away from Alexa’s neck. The way his warm breath hit the delicate skin on Alexa’s neck gave her that tingling feeling. That warm, bubbly feeling at the pit of her stomach. That feeling that turned her brain to mush. She shut her eyes, tilting her head a little to the side.

Michael took that as an invitation and started to kiss her neck. He placed soft, lingering kisses from her collarbone up to just below her ear. Alexa’s every hair was standing up, eyes still shut in pleasure.

“what are you doing?” Alexa mumbled, suppressing small moans.

“finishing what I started yesterday” he said in between kisses.

The way his soft lips brushed along Alexa’s neck with such delicacy drove Alexa mad. She was weak on her knees and there was nothing to do about it. She tried to keep quiet and suppress the little moans, but when his lips met that specific spot on just below her ear, she gasped out loud. Michael then knew he had found Alexa’s sweet spot and began kissing it repeatedly, earning a few quiet moans from Alexa 

When he suddenly stopped with the soft pecks, Alexa pouted for a second, but was then spun around, to face Michael. Her eyes shot open and she was met with a pair of beautifully glistening eyes. They stared into each other’s eyes for a while, just taking in the beauty of the other one. Alexa’s evenly brown eyes were something out of this universe. They were such a rich colour, it was almost impossible to not look directly into them. And Michael’s eyes were like the universe itself. Alexa couldn’t even describe the colour, if she tried. The fact that they were sparkling made Alexa fall into some kind of dream.

Alexa places her hands around his neck and Michael tugged his around her waist, pulling her a little closer. She was playing with the hair on the nape of his neck, sending shivers all through his body. His heartbeat picked up. Their hearts were almost beating out of their chests. The tension in the room was unbearable. Electricity was floating around them in such density it almost suffocated them. Alexa’s eyes averted to Michael’s ever so pink lips. She had to admit, they were always looking so damn kissable.

Without even thinking about it, Alexa leaned in and delicately placed her lips on his. Immediately their eyes fluttered shut and they both pulled each other closer, ridding all space between them. Alexa’s lips felt so soft and warm against Michael’s, he almost melted away. Their lips moved carefully against each other, almost as if they didn’t want to break the other. Fireworks went off inside of them, it felt so good. The really slow and delicate kiss left them both breathless When they pulled apart they rested their foreheads against each other. Their hearts were still beating out of their chests.

“you have no idea how long I’ve been wanting to do that” Michael breathed.

Alexa couldn’t help but smile and pressed another sweet peck on his lips. As they were standing there, post first kiss daze, the both of them were smiling and closing their eyes, just to enjoy the moment. Alexa raked her fingers through Michael’s hair, giving him goosebumps again. Michael however didn’t just let her do that. He was was seeking revenge. His hands, which were previously on Alexa’s waist, made their way under her shirt. When fingers and skin touched Alexa gasped, pressing a lustful kiss onto his lips. He then knew this was her kryptonite. When he began drawing shapes onto her bare back, she gripped his hair tighter. The kiss deepened and both of them basically lost their minds again.

Every fibre in Alexa’s body was going mad. The way Michael touched her skin in certain motions was having an effect on her that she couldn’t even begin to explain. It was the sensation of not being able to think about anything else. That his every touch left a tingle behind and with that she just wanted to be even closer. Her hands went further into his hair, bringing his head even closer to her own. They tilted their heads a little, brushing noses against their cheeks, whilst moving lips against each other. The butterflies were going so mad. 

Alexa’s lips felt like the best thing ever against Michael’s. The way her so soft lips were moving against his own made him weak on the knees. Her delicate fingers were constantly tugging on strands of his hair at the back of his head. This very action made him loose his mind even more. Low moans escaped his mouth, whilst still being connected to Alexa’s lips. 

The kiss became more and more hungry by the second. The two of them definitely had a lot of sexual tension, which had been building up for so long. They had no idea that they would be so helplessly falling for each other.

Being quite out of breath, they broke the kiss. Michael however was not going to stop so soon. He went on and placed kisses on her mouth, next to her mouth, on her cheeks. Alexa couldn’t help but smile at this gesture. It was so cute. Then he went to her jawline, also kissing it. And without even thinking about it he proceeded to her neck, placing his lips on that spot, which drove Alexa beyond mad. 

He knew he found it, when Alexa let out a barely audible moan. Smirking, he went on and placed sweet pecks all over her neck. Only a few kisses later he went back to her sweet spot and began sucking at her skin. Countless shivers went down the back of her spine. She gripped his hair even tighter, shutting her eyes.

Michael then went back to her lips, where he was hungrily met with Alexa’s. Immediately he returned what he was given. Alexa slid her tongue across Michael’s lips, letting the butterflies go mad within his stomach. He slightly opened his mouth and Alexa took the chance. Their tongues met and fireworks exploded. Alexa had never felt anything like this before.

Soon after she was spun around and pinned agains the wall, hungry eyes looking directly into hers. God was he hot. Green eyes were glistening and his lips were so pink it would be a crime not to kiss them. Alexa crashed her lips onto his and they moulded together.

After their little make out session, the both of them were so out of breath they just hugged each other. Just standing there for a while, embracing and not saying anything. 

“we could go over to the couch” Michael whispered against her neck, which left a tingling sensation.

“mhhm” she mumbled.

 They broke up the hug and Alexa went over to the couch, slumping down quite ungracefully. Michael went to the other side of the room and came back with a blanket and his laptop.

 “movie?” he questioned.

 “yeah” Alexa said mindlessly. She knew for a fact that she would just fall asleep in his arms, she always did, no matter what time it was. Michael layed down next to her, putting his laptop on his stomach and Alexa placed her head on his shoulder.

 “what do you want to watch?” Michael said, but after he received no answer he just put on hangover.


	19. 18

On the next day Alexa was a giggly mess. All she could ever think about was how his lips felt against her own. How every nerve in her body was bursting and how fireworks were exploding in her guts. And mostly how she just wanted to kiss those beautiful pink lips again. She had to admit, it was not what she thought she would come to. 

Alexa and Michael were standing in front of Alexa’s house as if it were the most natural thing in the entire universe. Casually conversing, they didn’t realize that time passed quite quickly and soon it was actually time for band practice. It was until Calum joined in with the conversation. 

“hey guys how’s it going” he spoke up, making both Alexa’s and Michael’s head turn into his direction. 

“oh hey didn’t see you coming” Alexa said, hugging him from the side. “fine fine how about yourself?” she inquired. 

“good good” he said, taking a step back. Since Alexa’s hair was tugged up in a ponytail, the deep purple hickey on her neck was not to be overlooked. As soon as Calum spotted that mark his jaw dropped. “well well” he taunted. 

“what?” Michael said quite confused.

“something must have been going on yesterday” Calum raised an eyebrow, pointing to Alexa’s discoloured neck. “or today?” he said in fake shock.

Alexa didn’t understand what Calum was on about, since she didn’t see the big purple hickey resting on her neck. When a smirk appeared on Michael’s face, she began to feel really confused. “what is going on guys?”

“he didn’t go easy on you did he?” Calum teased, trying to hold in his laughter. “there’s a leftover of what went down yesterday on your neck” Immediately Alexa’s hand touched the spot and she could feel the bruise under her skin. Shock painted across her face. Did her parents already see? What were they thinking?

“how bad is it?” Alexa asked, worry washing over her.

“you can basically see it from the moon” Calum stated.

“oh shut up it’s not that bad” Michael defended. Alexa panicked at that statement, because even if her parents didn’t yet see, she would have to hide it somehow in the next few hours.

“what am I gonna do?” Alexa whined, her cheeks as red as tomatoes. Michael couldn’t help but smile, she was so cute.

“next time tell your boyfriend he shouldn’t bite” Calum teased and shock washed over the both of them. They had never actually thought about relationship and he just loosely used that word.

“no no he’s not my boyfriend” Alexa tried to clear up the situation, quite awkwardly.

“oh I’m sorry” Calum threw his hands up in defeat. “didn’t think you’d let strangers bite tho” Calum teased, only to earn a death glare from Michael. “alright alright I’ll stop…. Maybe”

“we’re just friends okay” Michael stated.

"yeah because friends do _that_ " Calum dismissed. The whole situation was now really awkward and the three of them could feel it. “we better get ready for practice” Calum interjected.

“yeah I’ll-“ Alexa added unsure of what to say “I’ll get going too” she finished, walking on the porch of her house. When the door closed the boys walked over to Michael’s house, in silence. The awkward air somehow still didn’t diminish.

Once inside Alexa remembered her grandparents were coming round today, meaning she would have to face them and also her parents. The fact that her neck was deeply purple coloured made her stomach churn. How the hell was she going to hide that? Checking the time, she realized she had about twenty minutes left. Fantastic, she thought.

Ten minutes and about a whole concealer later she let her hair down, in order to kind of cover up her neck. She would have to keep her hair that way and hopefully nobody would realise.

[14:34] _you owe me a concealer_

 

[14:41] _I owe you a what?_

 

[14:43] _I used all of my concealer to cover up that damn_

_hickey because my grandparents are coming over_

_I s2g revenge is sweet_

 

[14:44] _can’t wait ;)_

 

[14:48] _idiot_

 

[14:50] _oh yeah_

_I was invited to some kind of barbecue party thing_

_You wanna come along?_

_It’s tonight btw_

 

[14:53] _yeah sure_

_gtg grandparents arrived_

_I’ll text you when I’m allowed to leave_

 

Alexa walked downstairs and her grandparents were already in the hallway chattering away with her mother. She decided on wearing a cute floral dress, since the situation was kind of fancy. Her grandparents didn’t visit often. They actually lived quite far away, so whenever they did visit it was sort of special. Her mother usually made a cake and an expensive bottle of champagne was opened. 

When Alexa was spotted, her grandmother was left in awe. 

“oh honey you look lovely” she said, hugging Alexa. 

“aw thank you” Alexa responded. 

“you look like a real lady” her grandmother went on with the usual grand-children talk. Alexa only listened half-heartedly, her thoughts were somewhere else. 

After some pointless chit-chat the family moved into the dining room, where a beautiful and incredibly delicious looking cake was placed on the table. Alexa’s mouth watered only by looking at it. Once everybody was sat down with a piece of cake and a glass of champagne in front of them, the boring questions began. Things like _what are you going to do with your future?_ or _which uni is it going to be?_ were not the things Alexa liked to talk about, especially since she had no idea. However when the overused _has our little girl a boyfriend_ question came up, Alexa couldn’t help but blush. Yet she stayed collected and answered with a cool “boys are stupid, I would never get a boyfriend” to which her mother just shook her head. She knew the red cheeks weren’t the champagne, because Alexa hadn’t even touched hers. 

It felt as if the conversation dragged on and on and on. Alexa wasn’t really in the mood for family conversation, but she also couldn’t sneak out, so she was doomed to sit there and be bored out of her mind. She just hoped her grand parents would leave soon. Another hour passed and it seemed like they would never leave. Still glued to the chair, she slid her phone out of her poked, as discreetly as possible. She decided to text Michael.

 

[17:12 _] I’m gonna be stuck her forever_

_entertain me_

 

[17:20] _What do you call a veterinarian with laryngitis?_

 

[17:22] _I have no idea_

 

[17:22] _A hoarse doctor_

_funny right? :D_

 

[17:23] _did you just google that?_

 

[17:24] _… maybe_

 

[17:25] _you’re such an idiot_

_wait I have one_

_Did you hear about the cannibal who was late for dinner?_

 

[17:30] _did they eat him?_

_:o_

 

[17:31] _nope :P_

_He got the cold shoulder_

 

[17:32] _good one good one_

_I still have my tab open ya know_

 

[17:34] _hit me_

 

[17:35] _why shouldn’t you play poker in the savannah?_

 

[17:36] _because you’ll die of heatstroke?_

_I have no idea_

 

[17:37 _] no_

_because there are a lot of cheetahs out there_

 

[17:37] _okay that one was good_

 

[17:38] _I have another one_

_are you google?_

 

[17:39] _uhm no?_

 

[17:40] _cause you’re all I’m looking for_

 

[17:41] _wow that was so corny_

_I might have to throw up_

 

That was what she typed, but in reality her face, especially her cheeks were as red as tomatoes. Even if it was just a joke, it was such a sweet thing and Alexa definitely couldn’t stop smiling. That obviously didn’t go unnoticed. 

“is everything alright honey?” her grandmother asked Alexa. 

“yeah good” Alexa answered absently. 

“why is it that you are smiling so big all of a sudden?” she dug deeper. 

“oh it’s nothing, just remembered a funny story” Alexa dismissed, hoping her grandmother would not ask about the story. 

“oh well” her grandmother smiled “you know you don’t have to sit with us old people all day, you can go and enjoy your life dear” she said much to the excitement of Alexa. 

“you sure?” Alexa questioned.

“yes honey of course, I know this is boring for you” she winked. Earning a death glare from her mother she made her way out of the room and walked up the stairs in her room. 

Looking at her phone, she had a new message.

 

_Michael_

 

[17:43] _I really tried_

[17:59] _don’t be such a baby_

_guess what i’M FREE_

 

[18:07] _okay come over and we can head off_

[18:09] _give me five minutes_

With that text being sent Alexa jumped off her bed and took of her dress. She then threw on a pair of skinny black jeans and a plain grey top. Taking her purse and phone in her hands she walked downstairs. She knew she had to say goodbye to her grandparents even though she dreaded doing so. Looking in the mirror and fixing her hair over her neck, she walked into the dining room. 

“I’m going to head out with a bunch of friends, it was lovely seeing you, gradma and grandpa” she said, whilst hugging the both of them.

“have fun lovely” her grandmother winked.

“I will” Alexa smiled.

“don’t come back too late” her mother said.

“don’t worry mum” she said, leaving the adults to their thing.

Alexa walked out the door, over to where Michael was already waiting by his car. She couldn’t help but smile when she saw him

“hey” he spoke “get inside” he gestured to the car and climbed into the car himself. The car ride was rather silent, besides the radio playing some tunes in the background. Alexa just kept looking out the window. When they arrived, Alexa almost jumped out of the car and quickly went over to the driver’s side, throwing her hands around Michael. She missed his hugs. Instantly he pulled her tight, still a bit unsure of the sudden affection.

“I missed your hugs” she admitted lowly “and you didn’t even hug me once today” she whispered against his chest. Michael couldn’t help but smile and chuckled at her statement. The broke the hug and walked into the unfamiliar garden.

It was nice to say the last. Somehow it reminded Alexa of her own garden. There was a fire pit in the middle, surrounded by cut off tree-trunks functioning as chairs. By the side there was one of those pavilions with lounge chairs within. Everything looked cozy and comfortable.

There were quite a few people standing by what seemed like the bar. A rather high table with countless bottles and a few red cups, that must be the bar part of the garden, Alexa thought. Little to her surprise she was tugged right there. She was met with a bunch of unknown faces, but somehow that didn’t bother her to the slightest. Michael seemed to know all the people and conversation flowed easily. Even Alexa enjoyed it.

Within the conversation, Michael suddenly grabbed Alexa’s hand and interlaced their fingers. Alexa felt the spark and just couldn’t deny a blush. Michael leaned over and whispered into her ear.

“wanna go sit at the fireplace?”

“yeah” was all she managed and the two of them walked over to the now kind of crowded fireplace. All of trunks apart from one were taken. This was why Alexa ended up on Michael’s lap. Since they weren’t really a thing and didn’t really wanted to be perceived as in a relationship, they had to act casually somehow.

Yet this proved to be incredibly difficult. The way that Michael’s arms were draped around Alexa waist made it almost impossible to not play with his fingers. How close Michael’s head was to Alexa’s neck, was making her thoughts quite fuzzy. The breath hit at the spot which had Alexa weak on her knees. All they wanted to do is cuddle and kiss, yet that was not possible. They had been here a fair amount of time, so Michael decided they could leave, after all it was just a guy he once met.

“you wanna go home” Michael whispered, causing Alexa to shiver. It was getting quite cold, colder than Alexa had expected, because she didn’t bring a jacket. So she was glad he asked her.

“yeah” she mumbled, getting up. The two of them walked over to the host, bidding their goodbyes and then walking over to the car. Alexa was now full on shivering.

“are you cold?” Michael asked, concern in his voice.

“yeah kinda, but we’re home soon anyways so don’t worry” Alexa said, rubbing her hands on her crossed arms.

“I brought a hoodie, thought it was going to be cold” he said opening the backdoor of his car. He handed Alexa a really comfortable looking black hoodie. “here you go” Alexa put it on, immediately being met with Michael’s scent. This hoodie was so nice and cozy, if possible she would have never taken it off.

Alexa smiled and pressed a kiss on his cheek. “thank you” she whispered.

“no problem” he hummed, pulling her into a tight hug. Before they broke the hug, he kissed the top of her head, making her feel so safe and content.

The car ride home was equally silent as the car ride from home. They weren’t bothered by it though, since there wasn’t really anything to talk about. They just enjoyed the silence between them.

Arrived at Michael’s house they were standing opposite of each other, unsure of what to do exactly. Alexa took the opportunity, placed her hands around Michael’s neck and much to his surprise connected their lips. Their eyes immediately fluttered shut. Alexa’s lips still tasted a bit of cherry, she must have applied some kind of cherry chap stick Michael thought. That however was the last coherent thought, as the butterflies went mad and all the senses were tingling. He put his hands around her waist pulling her a slight bit closer.

When they broke the kiss Alexa looked directly into his eyes, biting on her lip.

“you can’t just do that and then look at me like that” he breathed.

“revenge is sweet, honey” she mused and pecked another quick kiss directly onto his lips, before walking off. She turned around once more only to call “good night” with the most devilish smirk on her lips. Michael was left in a slight daze as he smiled to himself, knowing that she is the one.


	20. 19

When Alexa woke up on the next day she couldn’t help but smile. It was one of those big goofy smiles that you cover with your hands, because usually your cheeks are quite pink as well. 

Well, Alexa was still in Michael’s hoodie and to say she had never buried her face in it would be a complete and total lie. In fact she kept doing that again and again, because it smelt so good. Sleeping in a hoodie is not the most comfortable thing to do in the middle of summer, but there she was doing exactly that.

She was like a giggly school girl who had just had her first crush and now stole a piece of his clothing. All that aside, never did Alexa fall asleep that easily. With his scent lingering in front of her and the taste of his lips on hers still prominent, she slept like a baby. Since the hoodie was so comfortable and the weather was not quite as promising as Alexa had hoped, she kept the hoodie on.

When she walked into the kitchen her mother was quite confused as to what this hoodie was, because it was obviously way too big for Alexa. She however dismissed it as “I had that for ages, don’t you remember when we bought it” and somehow her mother did believe that lie. Then the phone buzzed in her pocket. Quickly she took it out. Quite obviously it was a text from Michael.

[10:47] _I need help :(_

[10:50] _with what exactly?_

[10:51] _i wanna hang up a poster and I can’t get it straight_

[10:53] _nerd_

[10:54] _are you helping me or what_

[10:58] _?_

She considered letting him hanging, but that was not an option. She knew very well she couldn’t resist his offer. Bidding goodbye to a confused mother she made her way over to her neighbour’s house.

[11:03] _open the door you idiot_

 

It was at the exact moment Michael opened the door that Alexa realised she was still wearing his hoodie. ‘wow this is embarrassing’ she thought to herself.

“aw you look cute” he commented, obviously referring to his hoodie. Somehow Alexa looked even cuter in his clothing. He made a mental note to to give her more of his shirts and hoodies.

“thanks, it’s really comfy too” Alexa admitted, looking down to her feet.

“c’mon inside” he gestured and the two of them walked inside. Michael walked up the stairs and Alexa followed. She had never actually been in his room before, which is where they were supposedly headed. “so this is my room” he said, walking inside. It was actually nice, everything seemed to fit together well, unlike Alexa’s room with furniture from all different places. On the bed, which was in the middle of the room, there was a huge poster of some kind of video game, probably what he wanted to hang up. He was such a nerd, Alexa thought, but somehow that made him even more adorable.

“alright so I’ll hold it up” he said walking over to the huge poster “and you tell me if it’s straight cause obviously I can’t tell” he explained further.

“that is all I have to do?” Alexa asked.

“yup pretty much” he dismissed, stepping on the bed and holding the poster above the window. “unless you wanna stretch up from the bed to get it in place” he teased, knowing very well Alexa would be way too short to do so.

“ah just shut up” she retorted.

“come on and make me” he teased, turning around to face Alexa, a sick smirk on his face. Alexa was sick of his shit, so she took the opportunity and walked over to where he was. She stepped on the bed as well, she almost fell too, but she managed to balance it out. Without thinking about it twice, she stretched up slightly and pressed her lips to his.

Michael was struggling to keep holding the poster up, as Alexa was by no means going to just give a quick kiss to him. His eyes grew wide for a second, as he didn’t expect that, but then immediately shut. The way their lips moved against each other turned both of their brains to mush, yet Alexa had a little bit of that determination left. She broke the kiss, only to place more kisses to the corner of his mouth and to his jawline.

His eyes were still shut and slight moans escaped his mouth. Though when Alexa’s lips met that specific spot on his neck, fireworks exploded within him. Alexa immediately knew, when she heard a slightly louder moan. She kept placing sweet kisses there, before sucking at the exact spot, making Michael loose all his composure. He let go of the poster, now turning fully around and placed his hands on Alexa’s hips, pulling her tighter. By this moment Alexa knew she had won. She pressed on sweet kiss on his lips and walked off the bed, leaving him standing on the bed, the most confused and dumbfounded expression on his face.

Alexa however was completely composed and quite happy with what she did. Now it was Alexa’s time to smirk victoriously.

“you” he whispered, squinting his eyes.

“what about me?” Alexa asked fake-innocently.

“you’re getting payback, just wait” he said darkly, only earning a chuckle from Alexa. He went on and picked up the poster again. Turning around he held it up.

“a bit to the left” Alexa ordered.

“like this?” he asked.

“a bit up and it’s perfect” Alexa said “yup like that”

“could you uhm-“ Michael began “hand me the tape?” he asked.

“yeah sure, that one on the desk” she asked sweetly.

“yup”

Once the poster was hung up the two of them decided on another movie, because let’s face it they just wanted to cuddle on the couch, laying as close to each other as possible. Settled down, Alexa placed her head on Michael’s chest and he began raking his fingers through her hair, relaxing her a lot.

“do you actually wanna watch a movie?” he asked lowly.

“if you keep playing with my hair, I’m good” she mumbled, smiling against his chest. Michael responded by massaging her scalp, which made her nuzzle her face into his chest, earning a chuckle from Michael. She also brought her hand up and placed it on his stomach, absently drawing shapes. The two closed their eyes, just enjoying the moment.

They layed there like this for quite a while, both of them being completely relaxed and just happy to be in each other’s presence. Until Alexa felt the familiar thing on her upper lip. She moved her head and licked her lip, to know for sure, it was blood again.

“shit” she cursed silently.

“what is it?” he said, propping himself up on his elbow.

“I think I’m having a nosebleed” she explained. “could you like- hand me a tissue or something” she said, looking up to the ceiling, hoping she wouldn’t stain anything.

“one second” he announced and got of the couch. He went through the drawers, which were on the other side of the room. Soon after he came back with a package of tissues in his hand. He sat back down next to Alexa and pulled on out. Very softly he wiped away the blood that was coming out of her nose.

“you’ve been having them more often lately, haven’t you?” he whispered.

“you noticed?” she asked. She thought it had gone unnoticed, all the times she snuck off to the bathroom.

“of course I did” he spoke lowly, patting her nose again. The fact that he noticed that made her stomach all warm and fuzzy. It felt like somebody cared enough to notice. A feeling Alexa never quite had.

“it’s nothing to worry about though” she assured.


	21. 20

It was a while ago since the two lovebirds had confessed their feelings for each other, yet they still didn’t really put a label on their relationship. The two of them didn’t really mind though, it didn’t mean they wouldn’t hang out of course. Because that is exactly what they did. Seemingly every living minute they spent together. They had fallen asleep in each other’s arms so many times, they would probably not be able to count it anymore. So many nights were spent talking about the weirdest things and sometimes these nights ended in very emotional topics. But it was nice, they had somebody they could trust. 

Alexa was sitting on her bed, not doing anything really, when her phone rang. Getting up to grab it from the desk, she wondered who would call her. Nobody usually calls. Her parents were home, her friends or rather people who she met at school at one point text and Michael also texts. So who was calling her? When she took the phone in her hand she furrowed her eyebrows as she saw the caller id. It was Michael. 

“Hi” she greeted “Mikey, why are you calling me?”

“hi” he sounded really nervous for some reason “do you wanna like-“ he paused “come over and chill a bit?” He asked, dodging Alexa’s previous question. Alexa was beyond confused. Firstly why did he call her to ask that? It was nothing out of the ordinary, besides he had texted her that a million times. And secondly why was he acting so weirdly?

“yeah sure” she answered, still being confused. He hung up before Alexa could say anything else. She threw her phone on her bed, shaking her head because this was all so confusing. Looking at herself in the mirror, she decided that sweatpants and one of Michael’s shirts was fair enough. She was only going to his place after all. She had managed to take one or two of his shirts without him noticing, she thought, when in fact he had hoped she would take them, because she looked so cute in his clothing.

A couple of minutes later she was in front of his house, still unsure of what that phone call just was. When he opened the door Alexa could tell that something was up. She pulled him into a hug. “what’s going on?” she whispered against his chest. 

“what? Nothing” he mumbled, but Alexa was no way near convinced. 

“I can tell something’s up, c’mon just tell me” she said, pulling away from him. 

“everything’s alright I swear” he reassured. “c’mon let’s go inside”

"i don't believe you" she said squinting her eyes but she followed inside. Maybe he would open up later, she thought. They went downstairs and there was a stool in the middle of the room. Alexa didn’t understand anything anymore. 

“you can sit down there” he gestured over to the stool. Alexa walked over but everything felt weird.

“can you tell me what’s going on?” she asked, sitting down. Michael didn’t answer, he slung his guitar over and began tuning it. Alexa decided to just wait and see, since he didn’t seem to answer any question today. 

He turned around and played a too familiar note. Alexa knew she had heard it before but couldn’t quite say what it was. Only when he began singing Alexa basically stopped breathing. Her mouth fell open and she covered it with her hands.

_Wise men say only fools rush in  
But I can't help falling in love with you_

He began and Alexa was in awe. She was at loss of words and couldn’t really believe what was happening. A few days ago she had showed him this exact song, jokingly telling him she wanted it to be played at her wedding.

_Shall I stay  
Would it be a sin  
If I can't help falling in love with you_

_Like a river flows surely to the sea  
Darling so it goes  
Some things are meant to be  
Take my hand, take my whole life, too  
For I can't help falling in love with you_

When he was finished a tear slipped from Alexa’s eye. She was so touched by this little performance. Not trusting her voice entirely she walked up to him and hugged him as tight as she possibly could. Alexa could hear his heart beating really fast, which made her kind of nervous as well. He broke the hug and set the guitar back down. Turning back around he faced Alexa again.

He cleared his throat he began speaking, nerves evident in his tone. “I can’t help falling in love with you” he hummed. “so-“ he began again, taking her hands in his and looking directly into her slightly watery eyes. “would you like to be my girlfriend?” he asked sincerely.

It took Alexa a moment to register what had just happened. When she realised a huge grin broke on her face and she understood everything from today. Not so quietly she spoke “yes yes yes I would love to” before wrapping her arms around Michael’s body, who was still very nervous. 

When the pulled apart Michael let out a sigh of relief. He was holding in that one for quite a while. 

“So this was why you were acting strange today” Alexa teased. 

“you have no idea how nervous I was” he admitted, cheeks beginning to turn pink.

“awwh but why? You didn’t think I was gonna say no did you?” she asked being quite shocked. 

Michael scratched the back of his neck. “I mean I didn’t know how you would react” he admitted. “you could have found it all way too much with the song and-“ he trailed off.

“you’re an idiot” Alexa shook her head. 

“now I am your idiot” he said, looking up from the ground bashfully.

“wow you’re so cheesy” Alexa said, although she thought all of this was amazing. Letting her heart speak instead of saying anything else, she leaned in and placed her lips against Michael’s. As soon as they touched fireworks exploded and butterflies went mad. Somehow there was no difference from the first kiss to the countless kisses they had shared. Each one seemed to be special. 

Alexa’s hands found themselves in Michael’s hair, as the kiss went on. Tousling a few strands between her fingers was definitely a way to drive Michael mad. He broke the kiss, only to leave feathery light ones all over her cheek and neck. Alexa tilted her head slightly when his lips met that spot on her neck, that spot that had her weak on her knees. Smirking, he began sucking at that exact spot. 

He earned a few moans from Alexa and when he pulled away, she immediately attached their lips again. Quite hungrily this time. Even though they had kissed just before, Alexa wanted nothing more than to be met with those beautiful pink lips. 

They both pulled apart after a while and rested their foreheads against each other, breathing slowly, eyes still closed. Alexa kept playing with the hair at the back of Michael’s neck. 

“I won’t be able to hide this one, will I?” she spoke after a while of silence, referring to the hickey on her neck.

“you won’t have to” he smiled.


	22. 21

It was another Tuesday afternoon, the boys decided to practice because Luke and Calum had written a song over the weekend. Quite obviously they wanted to share it. After a while of trying to get it right, the decided on a break. 

“sooooooo” Luke wiggled his eyebrows.

“so what?” Michael said mindlessly. 

“dude I heard you were all grabby at that barbecue last week” Luke said.

“where did you heart that from?” Michael tried to dismiss the topic. 

“doesn’t matter” Calum interjected “what matters is what’s going on between you two lovebirds”

“what do you mean?” Michael asked dumbfoundedly. He knew exactly what they were on about, but just didn’t want to give in yet. If he did, the boys would tease him mercilessly. [insert more maybe?]  
“you know exactly what I mean, don’t play dumb” Calum smirked, which made Michael quite fidgety. He was bound to tell them eventually, but just not yet. 

“so did you have the balls to ask her out yet?” Ashton asked, not so sincerely. The boys laughed out loud, well the boys minus Michael. His cheeks were turning a quite pink colour. The laughter died down eventually and Michael grew somewhat more nervous, even though those were his friends. He began scratching the back of his neck, to ease the nerves somehow. But his voice remained tiny. 

“I may have-“ he trailed off.

“YOU DID WHAT?” Luke exclaimed “DID YOU ACTUALLY ASK HER OUT LIKE”

“THAT MEANS SHE’S YOUR GIRLFRIEND NOW?” Calum interrupted. 

“yeah I guess” Michael trailed of, eyes locked on the floor. 

“DUDE THAT’S AMAZING how long have you been eyeing her for? Like forever am I right?” Luke cheered. 

“we need to throw a party guys” Calum stated “Mike’s finally had the balls to ask a girl out, that needs to be celebrated” he added. 

“how about we don’t do that okay, we’ve been together for what? Three days I don’t wanna scare her off already” Michael said without taking a breath.

“alright alright chill dude” Ashton said, patting Michael’s shoulder. 

“wait you’ve been together for three days and you’re only telling us now?” Calum asked all of a sudden. 

“well yeah I guess..” Michael trailed off. “I mean..” He dropped his head again, thinking back to how damn nervous he was when he asked Alexa out. His heart was basically beating out of his chest. In all honesty he did not think she was going to say yes. When she did Michael couldn’t believe it. A small smile appeared on his face, thinking back to that day. 

“she means a lot to you, doesn’t she?” Calum asked sincerely this time.

A quiet “yeah” was all Michel managed to say, cheeks as pink as ever. 

 

For the past three days Alexa kept wearing scarves, and that was not because she was cold or anything. Today, however she forgot. The night had been horrible and she barely managed to get a few hours of sleep, before giving in and just getting up. She was tossing and turning for the most part anyways.   
Quite obviously Alexa was still half asleep when she made her way downstairs to have breakfast. She didn’t think about anything at that point and just reached for a bowl and some cereal. What she didn’t notice was her mother watching her intently, as she was sitting at the table. 

“did you not sleep well hun?” her mother asked, making Alexa jump.

“uhm, no not really” Alexa tried to form a sentence. 

“oh I’m sor- WHAT IS THAT?” her mother exclaimed, spotting the slightly faded bruise on Alexa’s neck. It took Alexa a second to register what just happened. When she realised she put her hands over it, in a concealing manner. By now she was beyond embarrassed and didn’t know what to say. 

“who did that to you?” her mother asked sternly. 

“uhmmm….. itwasmichael” Alexa said in a very tiny voice. 

“I thought you two hated each other” he mother asked, confusion lacing her tone.

“well maybe that changed ?” Alexa more asked than stated. 

“changed how?” her mother was now back to being the nosey mother Alexa knew well.

“well..” Alexa trailed off. Suddenly the floor became the most interesting thing ever. 

“you do like him, don’t you?” her mother asked, a small smile on her mouth.

Alexa’s cheeks turned red at this very direct question, because yes, she did like him. She actually liked him a lot. But being asked about it so directly made her all bashful and nervous. She played with her feet on the floor, not entirely sure what she was going to say.

“you do like him” her mother stated. “so are you guys like hanging out a lot then?” she asked, going back to the usual nosey self.

Alexa just gave her that look, but that didn’t even phase her mother. She just went on.

“like just tell me something”

“michaelismyboyfriend” Alexa said within one breath, her cheeks being a bright red.

“awhhhh my little baby has a boyfriend” her mother became more and more excited. “tell me everything about him, like is he sweet? Does he hold your hand? Is he a good kisse-“

“mUM STOP” Alexa yelled “that’s none of your business”. 

“but-“ her mother tried. She just really wanted to know everything.

“no” Alexa said sternly. 

“okay so how about he comes over for dinner tonight, we can get to know each other” 

“no mum it’ll be so awkward” Alexa didn’t want that to happen, but deep down she knew there was no way past it. 

“oh c’mon I wanna meet my lil baby’s boyfriend.” Her mother nudged Alexa’s shoulder. 

“don’t ever call me lil baby again” Alexa stated, finally giving in to her mother’s plan. 

“but-“ her mother tried.

“don’t” Alexa warned.


	23. 22

It was not a thing Alexa would’ve really loved to do, but let’s say her mum has a way with words. So she ended up inviting Michael over for a quite fancy dinner, her parents wanted to get to know him after all. It’s not like they’ve been neighbours for at least five years, but her mother insisted on a nice dinner. To be quite honest it was just another way of making sure that her parents could ask all the questions possible. 

To say Alexa was nervous would be an understatement. Her guts were turning, even though it was her own parents. Michael on the other hand was calm as ever as he walked over to the Devito House. Alexa was already sitting on the porch, outside of the house. She was wearing a cute sundress, with a flowery pattern, that ended just below her knees. Nothing too fancy, but slightly dresses up. As she was waiting, she tapped away on her phone. 

“hey cutie” he called out, walking up to the house. She looked up from her phone, blushing slightly.

“hey” she said simply, walking towards him. They met in a hug, which calmed Alexa down just a little. 

“hey, something’s wrong, what is it babe?” he asked pulling away slightly. He could just tell that there was something wrong.

“I dunno, I’m just kinda nervous, I don’t even know why” she explained.

“there’s absolutely no need for you to be nervous” he laughed, caressing her arm “if anyone should be nervous then that should be me – but I’m not” he stated, letting go of Alexa. They intertwined their hands and walked up the stairs of the porch.

“I know I know I think to much” Alexa said shaking her head. In response to that he squeezed her hand lightly as they walked through the door.

Once inside they were greeted by Alexa’s mother, who was overly enthusiastic and quickly led them into the kitchen, having to say hello to her father. As soon as all the hellos were done, the two of them sat down at the table. 

 

“the meal was fantastic, thank you Mrs Devito” Michael said, finishing the last bit of steak on his plate. ‘Now the questions can begin’ Alexa thought, beginning to feel uneasy. She started playing with her fingers underneath the table, which, quite obviously, didn’t go unnoticed by Michael. 

She kept on fiddling with the hem of her skirt, when suddenly Michael’s hand reached for hers. As he was answering the questions he slowly brushed his thumb over the back of her hand. A gesture that calmed Alexa down. Somehow Michael always knew how to do that.

“So do you know where you’re gonna go to college?” Alexa’s mum continued the conversation”

“I’m not quite sure yet to be honest, but I have a few in mind” Michael answered firmly, moving his hand from Alexa’s lap to her thigh. The butterflies in Alexa’s stomach were now on full speed, as he was tracing shapes on her bare skin. “but I think I wanna do something music related” he continued after a beat of silence. 

“oh that sounds fantastic” Alexa’s dad spoke. “don’t you have like a band?” he asked.

“yeah I do actually, my friends and me we’re trying our best, but we’re still going to school, nobody really takes us seriously unfortunately.” Michael responded. His hand was now slightly under the light fabric of Alexa’s sundress, making her breath hitch. The way he was slowly moving his hand upwards made Alexa feel a certain kind of way. He on the other hand seemed to be not phased at all. 

“oh I’m sure the day will come when you get recognition” Alexa’s mother chimed in happily. “besides you already have one super fan, don’t you?” she smiled at Alexa. 

“uhm yeah sure” was all Alexa managed to say, as his fingers were now playing with the hem of her panties. She was weak on her knees and he was enjoying it. The blush on her face was conformation enough. 

“I guess we’ll just keep practicing, I mean you can never be good enough, right?” Michael spoke, his hand moving underneath the fabric of Alexa’s panties. Alexa gasped, her cheeks the brightest of red. 

“everything alright honey?” her mother asked, confusion painted across her face. 

“yeah fine” Alexa answered in one breath, swatting away Michael’s hand under the table “Michael and I are gonna go chill a bit in my room, if that’s okay”

“sure honey” her mother answered and with that Alexa got up and Michael followed suit. 

Once in her room she shut the door and just glared at Michael, who was already smirking. “what?” he asked, knowing exactly what this was about. 

“what the hell were you thinking?” Alexa spoke, eyes wide, putting her hands in her hair in an exasperated manner.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about” he teased even further, knowing fair well what she was referring to.

“oh I don’t know maybe the fact that you were about to finger me whilst having a casual conversation with my parents” Alexa raised her voice slightly. This boy was driving her mad. Not only was she completely wrapped around his finger, he was also freaking her out.

“don’t tell me you didn’t like it” he said in a somewhat sad tone, taking a step closer to her. 

“of course I liked it, that’s the fucking problem here” she said pulling on her hair. “but god imagine how embarrassing that would’ve been if I didn’t stop you” 

“I still don’t see the problem” he acknowledged. 

“fuck okay I am putty in your hands, especially if you do that” she began “do you not see it, I almost had an orgasm. In front of my parents. At the ‘get to know my boyfriend dinner’ it took everything of me to stop you for gods sake” she said, turning around. She was so done with this boy. But he grabbed her wrist and pulled her close in one swift motion, so their faces were almost touching.

“I’m sorry, okay” he whispered “please don’t be mad at me”

“do you think that’s like actually possible?” she said equally silent. 

“you know, I can always finish what I started back there” he proposed, a smirk evident on his face. 

“oh shut up” she shook her head, closing her eyes. But she was taken aback when those soft lips touched hers in the softest and most tender way possible.


	24. 23

That night, when Michael went home after the dinner, Alexa avoided her parents at all costs. She knew fairly well, the questions for her would begin just then. But hiding in her room forever was also not an option, since it was the next morning and her stomach was communicating through various gargling noises. Alexa decided to face the storm and go downstairs for breakfast.

“good morning honey” her mother greeted, once she entered the kitchen. Her parents were sitting by the table, long done with their breakfast. Almost as if they were waiting for Alexa to make her way down. She grabbed a bowl and poured herself cereal, which she set at the table and began eating. Her parents seemed to be waiting patiently for her to finish. As soon as she was done though, there was so stopping them.

“so he’s a real cutie isn’t he?” her mother began, earning an eye roll from Alexa. Not that he wasn’t, it was just that you don’t really want to hear your mother say that.

“I do like him, but if he’ll ever do anything to you, he won’t be smiling like that anymore” Her dad tried to be protective of her, which only worked partly.

“god dad, he’s not going to kill me” Alexa sighed, already being done with this conversation. She didn’t want to talk about her boyfriend with her parents. It was her business and not theirs, yet they didn’t think so.

“you never know what the boys are up to these days and I don’t wanna see my little girl get hurt” he went on, only irritating Alexa further.

“look, I’m fine okay” she said gesturing to herself. With that her dad left the kitchen, to do whatever he’s doing. This however meant the gossip talk of her mother would continue. She just wanted to know everything.

“so..” she trailed off. “since when are you guys a couple?” she asked, trying to sound not overly enthusiastic. She failed.

“about a week” Alexa tried saying without emotion, but thinking back to that day made that almost impossible. The memory of it tinted her cheeks pink and curled her lips up in a smile. All of this didn’t go unnoticed by her mother.

“oh really how did he ask you out? Or did you ask him?” her mother was on full I-wanna-know-everything-please-tell-me mode.

“he asked me and no I’m not telling you how cause that’s weird” Alexa retorted, growing more and more irritated. It wasn’t that she wanted to be mean necessarily, she just didn’t want to tell her mother, because that would have been really weird.

“oh c’mon tell me I’m your mother” her mother tried.

“mum” Alexa warned.

“okay so you shared a kiss haven’t you? Yeah you must have” her mother said, thinking back to the day her daughter had a big blue hickey on her neck. Also Alexa thought back to that day, feeling her neck and cheeks reddening even more. “oh my god, did you already do it?” Her mother asked being quite shocked.

“GOD MUM THAT’S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS I’m out of here bye” with that Alexa stood up and walked to the backdoor. As she was in front of Michael’s door, she was too much of a chicken to just ring the doorbell, because what if it’s not Michael who opens the door? She pulled out her phone, texting the man himself.

 

 [11:38] _hey what you’re doing?  
wanna hang out?_

[11:39] _yeah sure, shall I come over?_

[11:39] _just open the door  
I’m already there_

“what brings you here at this time?” he questioned, whilst wrapping his arms around her.

“my mum was being annoying, did I interrupt anything?” she said, breaking the hug.

“actually yeah, my killing streak” he answered seriously.

“you’re such a nerd” she shoved his chest playfully, making him chuckle.

“you know what since we a) haven’t planned anything today and b) you’re a noob when it comes to video games, I’ll be your teacher for today” he stated, leading her downstairs, where his loved playstation was.

“oh wow I don’t know if I should be offended or not” she wondered “but why not I guess” she shrugged, following him down the stairs.

Once sat down, Alexa was sitting in between Michael’s legs, his arms draped around her. They were both holding the controller, him trying to help Alexa how to kill all those enemies. At first she was just slamming the buttons, as you do, when you have no idea whatsoever. But soon, and with the help of Michael, she began to understand how to no rely on fate entirely. She noticed patterns and what exactly is to be done to kill enemies, rather than just slamming buttons.

Yet no matter how hard Alexa tried, she always died in the end. There was always some character lurking behind her and attacking when she wasn’t paying complete attention. She grew frustrated.

“can we do something else, you suck at being a teacher” Alexa whined.

“hey maybe you’re the one who sucks” Michael retorted, poking the side of her stomach. She squirmed at the action. “is somebody ticklish?” Michael said with a smirk. Alexa only glared at him in response.

“don’t” she stated, her eyes narrowing. Quite obviously that was the invitation for Michael. He began poking her belly repeatedly, making her squeal. Alexa tried to wriggle out of his grasp, to no avail.

“can you please stop” she giggled, her cheeks quite flustered.

“if you grant me one wish” he declared.

“whatever your majesty” she said in between breaths.

“kiss the prince” he stated. There was not a second thought to it, as Alexa immediately pressed her lips to his, already missing the feeling. He was taken by surprise, that she obliged so quickly, but of course he wasn’t the one to complain.

“I didn’t expect that” he admitted, opening his eyes.

“you thought I wouldn’t kiss you?” Alexa asked, almost laughing out loud. Michael turned his head downwards in embarrassment. “dude you’re my boyfriend, if it was possible I would never stop kissing you” She placed her finger on his chin, in order to make him look at her. When they locked gazes she spoke “you’re such an idiot” before connecting their lips again. The smiled throughout that whole little make-out session. When they broke apart they rested their heads against each other.

“We could watch a movie” he suggested, playing with Alexa’s fingers.

“that’d be amazing” she whispered.

"alright, but let’s go upstairs, my bed is way more comfortable.”

Once they had started the movie, Alexa immediately curled into Michael’s side. It was not long until her eyes began to feel heavy and she let them fall shut. Whether it was the soft background noise of the movie or the faint sound of Michael’s heart beating in his chest or the way he lightly caressed her arm, she could have just fallen asleep at that point.

“if I don’t leave now, I’ll fall asleep” she mumbled.

“then don’t leave” he answered, kissing the top of her head.

“no my parents are gonna kill me” she said, her voice being a mere whisper.

“no they won’t sweetheart” he said, pulling her even closer. “they know me and they know where you are so you’ll be fine” he tried to assure her, but she had already fallen asleep cuddled into him.


	25. 24

When Alexa woke up she felt as content as ever. As soon as she opened her eyes confusion spread across her face as she took in her surroundings. Turning her head around, she realised she was actually in Michael’s room. 

“good morning sunshine” he mumbled, voice laced with sleep. Alexa’s stirring must have woken him up. Processing further she noticed that she was actually laying close to him, his arm securely around her. Alexa could definitely get used to waking up like this. 

“good morning” she whispered.

“did you sleep well?” he asked in a deep voice. 

“mhm” she mumbled “it’s comfortable in your arms” He pulled her closer and pressed a kiss to her head in response. 

“you know” he began, taking Alexa’s hand into his. “I could get used to this”

“me too” Alexa whispered. She turned around, so she was now facing him, or rather his chest. She tilted her head upwards and kissed his neck, earning a quiet ‘mmmhhm’ from him. They laid like this for a while, just enjoying each other’s presence. Only to be interrupted by a loud growl from Michael’s stomach. 

“oh well someone’s hungry” Alexa giggled, poking his chest. 

“well I can’t deny it now, can I?” he mumbled. 

“c’mon let’s go eat something, I’m hungry too” Alexa said, sitting up and stretching her arms out. Her shirt got pulled up slightly and revealed a bit of skin on her sides. Michael took that opportunity and grabbed her, to pull her back into his embrace. 

“hey” she protested, but soon was curled into a ball, because Michael tried to tickle her, once again. After a while of trying to escape his grasp, she gave up. She let herself fall back down on the bed, next to Michael with his arms still around her. 

Kissing the top of her head he mumbled “God I - you’re so cute” he corrected himself. Alexa’s heart almost stopped, as she thought he was going say it and she wouldn’t have been prepared at all. Alexa awkwardly coughed. The air in the room was weird now after that almost confession. 

“let’s go get food shall we?” Michael suggested.

“yeah let’s go” Alexa obliged, getting up from the bed and walking to the stairs. Michael trailed behind her, still being in a daze. He really wanted to just keep laying in that bed. 

“okay since you’re not gonna do anything you’ll have to at least tell me where things are” Alexa stated, putting her hands to her waist. 

“alright alright what are we making? Pancakes?” he paused for a second, looking at Alexa who just nodded. He walked over to the fridge, taking out the pancake mix. Alexa took it out of his grasp as soon as the mix was within reaching distance. Quite conveniently there was already a pan sitting on the stove, so she just began making the pancakes. 

Michael however had different things in mind. Standing behind her he put his arms around her, resting his head on her shoulder. He stayed like that for a while, until he was beginning to be bored. Alexa was still happily cooking pancakes, when a Michael’s hand made its way under her shirt, softly trailing lines. Her breath hitched. Yet she concealed it as well as possible. It was until he started to pepper kisses on her neck, when her façade fell.

“Michael-“ she mumbled, unable to form coherent sentences.

“what sweetheart?” he asked sweetly.

“I can’t cook pancakes if you do this” she said, voice tiny. 

“like what?” he teased, placing another kiss on her neck. The first pancake was finished, so Alexa tossed it onto the plate sitting next to the pan. Now, she had enough of his teasing. She put her finger into the pancake mix and smeared a bit of it onto Michael’s cheek.

“oh no you didn’t” he gasped in shock.

“yes I did” Alexa stated proudly. “that’s what you get for distracting me from making breakfast”

“that calls revenge” Michael announced, turning round. His arm was still half way around Alexa, holding her securely, so she wouldn’t just run away. Conveniently there was an opened jar of Nutella on the opposite counter. Not thinking twice about it, he stuck his finger in and in a matter of seconds there was Nutella on Alexa’s face. She whipped her head around to look up at him, which was a mistake because this gave him access to her other cheek. Now it almost looked like war paint on her face. 

“you.” Alexa squinted her eyes at Michael 

“what about me” he asked innocently, a smirk on his lips. He licked the leftover Nutella off his finger. 

“you are disgusting. Food is not to be played with” Alexa stated.

“you’re just mad I won” he chuckled. “but you know you look cute” he said, kissing Alexa’s nose. 

“I look like an idiot, besides how the hell am I gonna get this off” Alexa whined, trying to rub it off, but only smearing it. 

“I have an idea” he said, his lips twitching into a smile. “just close your eyes”

“oh god, this is gonna be one of your ideas, is it” Alexa emphasized the ‘your’, since his ideas were usually weird, but she obliged anyways and closed her eyes. A mere second later she felt his lips softly pressing to her cheek. She then also felt his tongue very lightly touching her cheek. A smile spread on her face, since this was simultaneously the most stupid and cutest thing ever. It also tickled, which made Alexa giggle, like a schoolgirl. “you’re such an idiot” she cackled.

“are you like actually licking my face now?” she wondered out loud, squirming slightly.

A muffled “mhm” is all of an answer she got. 

“you’re so weird god” she said, putting her arms around his waist. “does it even taste good?” Alexa wondered further. Within one swift motion Michael’s lips were on Alexa’s. She could definitely taste the Nutella that was now also on her lips. 

“I don’t know does it?” he asked cheekily, after breaking the kiss.

“you’re an idiot and we now have one pancake” Alexa said, wriggling out of his grasp. 

“and that one is mine you can make your own” Michaels said evily, taking the pancake on the counter and running off, already taking a bite off the pancake.

“oh no you didn’t” Alexa gasped.

“yes I did”


	26. 25

Alexa woke up to the rumbling of her stomach. She was beyond hungry. She knew she’d have to get up to get food, but her bed was so warm and comfortable. Ignoring the loud sounds from her belly, she closed her eyes again and tried to go back to sleep. To no avail. After about an hour of tossing and turning she gave up and made her way downstairs. On the kitchen table there was a note.

_Gone out with some friends for the weekend, we’ll be back by tomorrow  
_ _Love mom and dad_

It read. “oh nice, I’ll have the house to myself” Alexa muttered, being slightly disappointed they didn’t tell her in person. She went over to the counter and grabbed her favourite cereal, Nesquick, and poured some into a bowl along with some milk. Sitting down she began chewing mindlessly, not really sure what to do this day, as it was, well, just herself. As if planned, her phone vibrated in the pocket of her sweatpants.

10:24 _hey sunshine_

When she read the message, she grinned like an idiot. She just couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that Michael was actually her boyfriend.

10:25 _hey mikey_

_I’ve got the house to myself today_

_Just thought I’d let you know_

10:28 _oooooooooooo_

10:30 _don’t think that was some kind of invitation_

_you can come over tho if you want to_

10:31 _I’ll be on my way madam_

Not even five minutes later, she heard a knock on the back door. That was something else about Michael. He always came through the back door. Alexa got up from the kitchen table and walked over to the back door. As soon as she opened it up Michael almost jumped in and pulled her in a tight embrace. There was this thing about Michael hugs that you could not describe. Something so soft yet so secure. Just amazing to keep it short.

“you smell sooooo good” she mumbled against his chest. That was another thing, his scent was making Alexa go all delirious. She did like him a lot. Maybe even love him? Shaking her head she discarded that thought, it was not something she wanted to think about right then. 

“so what are we doing today?” Michael asked, cheeky smirk playing on his lips.

 “don’t even” she replied, turning away from him and walking back to the kitchen. Her Nesquick was probably soggy by now, but she was still really hungry so she went for it. Michael followed wordlessly.

“are we gonna watch another movie?” Michael asked, playing with the bracelets on his wrist. He did that when he was either bored or really nervous. This time he was probably just bored though.

“I don’t know, I mean we could go out for once” Alexa suggested in between taking scoops of soggy Nesquick. The two of them never really went outside. They were both somewhat couch potatoes, Alexa liked to read, Michael liked to play video games. No need to go outside for either of them 

“outside?” he questioned, disbelief in his voice. 

“yeah why not? We’re always just moping around, we need some fresh air” Alexa reasoned. “I’ll just need to take a shower first” She put the now empty bowl in the sink and then walked up the stairs to her room, Michael following suit.

“I’ll be done in about fifteen minutes, you can use my computer or whatever” Alexa said, picking out fresh clothes. Michael sat himself down on Alexa’s bed and he pulled out his phone, probably to play some kind of game. Alexa didn’t even notice and made her way to the bathroom opposite of her room. She layed down the towel and stripped down, placing the dirty clothes on the side. As soon as the warm water hit her skin she felt relaxed. Nothing was better than a warm relaxing shower after all. 

Five minutes in, while shampooing her hair she saw a drop of blood hit the floor. Bringing her hand up to her nose her assumption was confirmed. She was indeed having another nosebleed. In the shower. ‘Not again’ she muttered to herself, whilst washing the remains of shampoo out of her hair. She thought about how she would get to tissues, to effectively stop the nosebleed, but every way seemed to be getting the blood everywhere first. So she did the only thing that seemed to be avoiding that. She quickly stepped out of the shower, head tilted upwards and then immediately layed down on the cold tiles. Thankfully the towel was in reach, so she dragged it over her exposed body, merely covering what she wanted to cover. There was only one way to get to the tissues now.

“Mikey” she called out. No answer. “Michael” she shouted a little louder “can you please help me” This time he supposedly heard, since footsteps made their way over to the bathroom.

“what do you need me to do?” he asked, head leaning against the closed door.

 “come in, I’m not naked, I mean technically I am but just come in” Alexa rambled. He opened the door and shock painted his face immediately.

 “hey what’s going on with you, you’re like really pale is everything alright?” he was getting more and more worried about Alexa by the minute.

“it’s nothing, just a nosebleed. Could you please just hand me some tissues, they’re over there on the counter somewhere” Alexa instructed and Michael obliged. He grabbed them off the counter and pulled one out, softly dabbing Alexa’s upper lip. She closed her eyes. Having nosebleeds usually made her quite dizzy, so she was glad there was somebody there. She was actually glad it was Michael and not just somebody.

“do you have them often, the nosebleeds I mean?” Michael asked softly.

“lately kinda often, yeah, but don’t worry about me” Alexa almost whispered.

“but I do worry about you” he spoke, making Alexa’s heart grow a million times bigger. A smile twitched on her face. The way Alexa was laying there, eyes closed, wet hair tangled on the floor, only covered by a towel, he couldn’t help but admire her. Her arms were bare and little drops of water were still hanging on to her skin. Michael brushed his fingers from her shoulder to her elbow, stopping for a mere second and then going back to her shoulder. With every touch he left a trail of goose bumps. That’s the effect he had on Alexa.

The way the small towel was covering her most intimate parts kind of left the sides of her body exposed. Alexa’s eyes were still closed and Michael was still sitting next to her. The only thing he wanted to do was touch her, not in a sexual way even. Just to be close to her.

After a while of silence Michael shakily dragged his hand over to Alexa again and began tracing the side of her stomach. Alexa couldn’t help but shiver at his touch. It was so soft and tender and the butterflies were going crazy in Alexa’s stomach. The way he was softly and so slowly tracing his fingertips along the freshly washed, very sensitive skin was putting her in some kind of trance. The tingling feeling and the butterflies in her stomach just made her realise that she liked this boy a lot. Like really a lot. She might even love him.

Suddenly he stopped and Alexa pouted at the loss of touch, her eyes opening. He chuckled at her response.

“you should go dressed, I don’t want you getting sick.”


	27. 26

Michael had been thinking about many things the last couple of days. He thought about Alexa a lot. How he likes her a lot. How she’s this amazing girl, that is funny without trying, a goddess that doesn’t want to believe it. But mostly how she makes him feel like he’s in some other world. Whenever they their hands collide, tingles shoot through his veins. When she kisses his cheek, it feels like it’s on fire. And when they talk and she tells him something that is important to her, she looks him directly in the eyes and they’re sparkling. He hasn’t even begun to understand her, but he knows that she makes him feel so good. When she’s around he’s happy. When she’s around he feels at home.

In all this thinking he also came across the thought of taking her out. They never did that before. Hell, he didn’t even know if Alexa wanted to go out with him. They were girlfriend and boyfriend, but still would she want to?

He decided that he just has to take her out, to prove just how much he likes her, or is it more? That was one of those things that drove him insane. He had been thinking of those two words for so long, by know he didn’t even know anymore. In all this mind-crushing thinking he also had his friends over, for consoling mostly. They had called it from the very beginning when they said he was whipped. They also said he was so much in love with her, it was driving him insane. 

The more he thought about those words the more it dawned on him. ‘I really fucking love this girl’ he muttered, sitting on the edge of his bed. He had been sitting there for quite a while now, playing with the end of his blanket, while he was thinking. ‘I need to tell her, I need to fucking tell her’ he murmured to himself. He got up and paced around the room, thinking about how he could possibly bring himself to tell her. There was this one conversation he had with Luke the other day. Luke had suggested to ‘just take her out to a nice place and then tell her’, which seemed like a good idea. But how the hell would he do that? It was driving him berserk, so he just sucked it up and called her. 

With every ring of the phone he grew more anxious and closer to cancelling the call. When she finally picked up her phone, his mind went blanc for a second. 

“hey, what do you want?” she said over the phone, confusion evident in her voice. 

“hey- uhm- “ he paused, not knowing what to say next.

“is everything alright mikey?” she was beginning to get worried, he was acting so strange, she thought.

“yeah yeah I’m fine” he chuckled nervously. “I was just wondering if-“ he took a deep breath, that was certainly to be heard on the other side of the line. “-if you’d like to go out with me?” he let go of the breath he seemed to be holding. 

“yeah that be great” Alexa beamed, her smile growing bigger and bigger. He was actually asking her on a real date. “when have you planned?”

“tonight” he stated. Then the nerves kicked in and he went on full ramble mode. “is tonight alright? Or would you rather wait? Or like I don’t know?”

“hey mikey” she consoled “tonight is fine, I’ll be ready by six, is that alright?”

“yeah” was all he managed.

“okay see you then” with that she hung up and Michael’s nerves went out of the roof. Not only was he taking his girlfriend out, he was also going to tell her that he loves her. And he didn’t even have an idea where to take her. 

An hour and many lost nerves later he had decided he would take Alexa to the little Italian restaurant down the road. It was now five thirty and he was going mad. He was already dressed in his signature black jeans and a black button up, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He knew very well, he was too early, nonetheless he made his way over to Alexa’s house. As soon as he was on the front porch her mother opened the door and he was invited in. It was good though, somebody was taking his mind off things. 

The minutes have passed quicker that he thought they would and suddenly Alexa was standing in the doorway of the kitchen, dressed in a black skirt and a lilac flowy top. She was more than beautiful.

“you look so good” he admitted, walking over to her. 

“thank you” she bashfully smiled.

“let’s get going then” Michael said and led her out of the house. 

The car ride wasn’t long, the radio played about one song. When they got out Michael quickly sprinted to Alexa’s side, to open her door. 

“well thank you fine sir” Alexa joked. 

The two of them walked into the restaurant hand in hand, both smiling like idiots. Michael told the waiter his name and they were escorted to a table in the back of the restaurant. It was a little room, with just a table for two and a candle light on it. Alexa’s jaw dropped. They both sat down and she still couldn’t say anything. 

“you like it?” Michael asked nervously.

“yeah” Alexa gasped “I love it”

The waiter came by again and they ordered their food. Quite obviously they both went for pizza, just because. Alexa was enjoying her food, whilst Michael was trying to sort out his thoughts. How was he going to bring the topic up? Was he just going to blurt it out? He should have thought about this before. 

Alexa sensed his uneasiness and looked at him in worry. He didn’t seem to notice. So she grabbed his hand, to which he looked at her. “hey, is everything alright?” she questioned.

“yeah yeah fine” he answered curtly. 

“look I can tell something’s up, just tell me”

“no I’m fine all good” he answered. Alexa didn’t buy it, but she decided not to push it, since they were on a date after all. 

“look Alexa” he began “the thing is-” Her whole attention was directed to him and he was freaking out. The way her eyes were looking directly into his was making him weak on the knees. He couldn’t do it. “I think-“ he tried again, but the words got stuck in his throat. “I think you look really beautiful tonight” he finished the sentence, mentally cursing himself. 

“thank you mikey” Alexa said, rubbing her thumb over the back of his hand. They were finished with their food by now and the waiter came to collect their empty plates. 

“can I get you guys anything else?” the waiter inquired.

“no thanks, we’d like to pay” Michael answered politely. 

Michael payed for the food, against Alexa’s will of course. It was a date after all, he argued. 

When they were in front of Michael’s house again they were standing opposite of each other, nobody speaking a word. Suddenly Alexa pulled him into a tight hug, which he relaxed in immediately. 

“thank you for everything tonight, it was really lovely” Alexa mumbled into his chest. 

“always for you my princess” he whispered. 

“princess” Alexa repeated “I like that” Michael smiled at that comment, bringing his hand to Alexa’s cheek. His thumb lightly stroking her cheek. Alexa broke the hug a slight bit and leaned in to kiss those beautiful pink lips, that she would kiss every moment of the day, if she could. 

“I’m gonna head home, it’s freezing” Alexa broke the hug completely and turned around in order to walk to her house. But she was pulled back. In the next moment Michael pressed a soft kiss to her forehead.

“get home safely” he said, letting go of her.

“I will, not that it’s that much of a challenge” she laughed.

“goodnight mikey” she waved halfway at her house.

“goodnight princess” he whispered “I love you”


	28. 27

When Alexa woke up on the next day she felt weird. ‘I probably just didn’t drink enough yesterday’ she thought to herself. She got up and put on some shorts and a top, with some difficulty. There was this static in her head, that made everything frizzy. She couldn’t stand quite straight; it was really weird. As she walked down the stairs, she had to hold on to the handle, she would’ve probably fallen otherwise. 

Entering the kitchen, she earned to worried expressions from both her parents. “what’s up” she yawned, turning to the cupboard, away from her mother. 

“honey you’re really pale, is everything alright?” her mother spoke, worry evident in her tone. She got up and walked over to Alexa who just then happened to drop the bowl, smashing it in the effect. Alexa herself didn’t quite register what had happened until her mother grabbed her shoulders, shaking her. “Alexa what’s going on?”

“nothing I’m fine” Alexa dismissed, picking up the pieces of the smashed bowl on the floor. Her vision was blurry still and her legs were quite shaky. She proceeded putting everything in the bin, but somehow her legs just gave in all of a sudden, everything was black. 

 

Michael had texted Alexa a few times this day, still no replies. He was growing confused as to why she wouldn’t reply, because usually it takes her about two minutes. After four hours of no reply he decided to just go over to her house, see what she was doing. Maybe it was just her phone that was dead.

He rang the doorbell and stands there for a good two minutes until Alexa’s dad opened the door. 

“hi Mr Devito, is Alexa home?” Michael asked politely. 

“no she isn’t she fainted in the morning and we took her to the hospital, Melissa is still there with her” Alexa’s dad explained. Michael’s eyes widened. Alexa was at the hospital? Was there anything wrong with her? “she’s alright though, nothing to worry about”

“can I go see her?” Michael asked. 

“sure thing, I’m actually gonna go to the hospital as well, want me to give you a ride?” Alexa’s dad offered. 

“that’d be great” Michael answered.

The drive was quiet and not too long for it to be super awkward. Michael was glad when they arrived though. He went into the building and asked for her room. Her father stayed in the car, since he was only picking her mother up. 

The door to her room was slightly opened, so Michael gave it a slight push. Alexa was sitting on the huge hospital bed, looking out the window. She must have not heard Michael come in, because she didn’t react in any way. Michael walked up to her, trying to not make a sound. Her back was still facing him and she still seemed to be captivated by whatever she saw outside. 

When Michael was standing right behind her, he hugged her from behind. Not expecting him at all, she jumped and shrieked. 

“hi” he breathed into her neck, making the little hairs down her spine stand up. Cuddling closer into her, he grabbed her hands and played with them. The enjoyed their company in silence. 

“you could’ve given me a heart attack, you know” Alexa stated after a while. 

“you would be in the right place wouldn’t you?” he smirked.

“idiot” Alexa said simply. 

“hey” he narrowed his eyes in fake manner. “why are you here actually?”

“well, I fainted in the morning so my parents took me here. But like nothing’s wrong I just go a bit of low blood pressure, which might also be the reason for all the nosebleeds I kept having” Alexa explained. “so I’m fine, but they’re keeping me until they get the lab reports from my blood back, which is soon hopefully, cause I’ve been bored out of my mind today ugh I didn’t even have my phone” she rambled on. 

“we could play a game” Michael suggested, removing his arms from around Alexa. She turned around narrowing her eyes at him. 

“what kind of game?” she asked, being suspicions as to what was going on in his head. 

“you’ll see” he said “move a little so I can sit on the bed too” he ordered. He took off his shoes and sat himself behind Alexa her back facing him. 

“now I’ll write something on your back and you have to guess what I wrote”

“alright” she rolled her eyes at how simple that game was, but somehow it was a cute idea. He always had the cutest ideas going on, she didn’t know where they all came from. On the outside he wasn’t at all the cutesy type, but somewhere deep down he was. Alexa loved it. 

He began with easy words like ‘bed’ and ‘chair’ and ‘sun’. Then they moved on to sentences, because Alexa complained that single words were too easy. The sentences weren’t too long though, since you can only remember a few letters at a time. 

Michael’s sentences were usually quite the same structure wise. They usually started with the basic ‘I’.

“I” Alexa said, once Michael had drawn yet another line on her back. He paused. For a moment he was not entirely sure if he wanted to write what he had in mind. He let out a deep breath and went on. 

“l” Alexa said, repeating every letter he was drawing. Somehow the conversation died down and the only thing to be heard was their breaths. 

“o”

“v” and with that Alexa was silent. She knew what he was going to write. The expectation came true, when she felt an ‘e’ and then the three other letters. Her heartbeat picked up and her hands were sweaty. Was she supposed to say it back? Like immediately. I mean, she was sure by now that she loved him, but how the hell was she gonna tell him? Was she just going to blurt it out?

Not really knowing what to do, she turned around and connected their lips. The kiss was slow and meaningful, and it said just what Alexa wanted to.

“I love you too” Alexa whispered bashfully. Michael rested his forehead against Alexa’s letting out yet another breath that he was holding in. He opened his eyes, only to look directly into Alexa’s. 

“you don’t know how nervous I was just before” he breathed, taking Alexa’s hands into his. “I had actually planned to tell you when we went out the other day, but I just couldn’t say it I was so fucking nervous” Michael admitted lowly, eyes trained on their hands. “you just mean so much to me”

Alexa didn’t know how to respond to that. Nobody had ever told her, that she meant a lot to them. Never had anyone been nervous because of her. “I love you so much” Alexa said shakily, connecting their lips yet again. This time she brought her hands up to his face, playing with the hairs by his ears. 

“sorry lovebirds” a voice spoke, breaking the two apart. Michael stared down on his hands, cheeks quite flushed. Alexa had to give her attention to the person, but her mind was certainly somewhere else. “the lab results just came in and you’re fine Mrs. Devito” this was presumably the doctor, they thought. “you’re fine to go home actually”

“oh thank you” Alexa said awkwardly “do I need so sign anything?”

“no you’re good to go” the doctor said. “I’m gonna leave you two bye Alexa”

The doctor left the room and Alexa couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “wow that was awakward” she giggled, cheeks redder than ever. 

“that it was”


	29. 28

It was the day after Alexa had been released from the hospital. Of course there was nothing wrong with her. The doctors had said it can occur that teenagers faint, which has to do with growing too fast or having enough water. Alexa felt perfectly alright and didn’t think about it anymore once she got home. 

Everyone else wasn’t having it though. Her parents were super sorry about not spending the weekend at home and almost cancelled their long awaited wellness trip. The worst of all was Michael though. He treated her as if she were dead. Not that she didn’t like to be cared for, but at some point it was going on her nerves.

Since her parents couldn’t leave her alone in the house all weekend they made her go over to Michael’s, with the ‘don’t do anything naughty’ talk of course. Alexa only rolled her eyes and bid her goodbyes mid lecture. She was now sat on Michael’s bed, whilst he was doing something downstairs. He didn’t tell her of course, because she was apparently so ill. 

She made her way downstairs to the kitchen, where she would probably find Michael. Also, she was quite hungry, so she went for food as well. He was indeed to be found in the kitchen, preparing some kind of food. 

“hey you’re supposed to be laying down” Michael said, being offended she didn’t oblige to what he said. 

“and why exactly?” Alexa asked, walking over to him. 

“because you literally fainted yesterday” he threw his hands up in the air. 

“and the doctors said I’m fine, so I am” Alexa retorted, growing more and more frustrated. “besides I’m hungry and I was bored”

Alexa grabbed the sandwich Michael was making and took a huge bite. 

“oh that is so good” Alexa mumbled, mouth full with food. 

“hey” Michael protested, trying to take away the sandwich.

“no way in hell you’re gonna get that back” Alexa said, taking a step back. 

“at least sit down” Michael gave in, concern evident in his voice. 

“dude I’m not dead okay, just forget yesterday happened god” Alexa rambled, whilst pulling out a chair. Michael went silent after her little statement. Then it dawned on her, she had basically just said that he should forget they declared love for each other. 

“hey I’m sorry I didn’t mean it that way you know that” Alexa looked up at him but he avoided her gaze. She got up and walked over to him. Putting a hand on his shoulder she began moving her thumb up and down. “look at me, I love you okay?” With that sentence a huge grin spread across his face. He was fooling her this entire time. 

“you’re such an idiot I swear to god” Alexa pushed him slightly 

“I love you too” he kissed Alexa’s cheek, still giggling. “I can’t believe you fell for it so quickly”

“whatever” Alexa dismissed “you’re still an idiot”

“your idiot” Michael emphasized, huge grin on his face. 

“a cheesy one on top of all” Alexa added. 

“c’mon princess, I need to teach you a little more of that game we played last time, you still suck at it and my girlfriend cannot such at the best game in existence.” Michael stated and grabbed her hand. Her face heated up at the little gesture. She was still not wrapping her head around the fact that she was actually his girlfriend. 

“hey I’m not that bad okay” she croaked out. 

“yeah whatever princess”

They had been sitting on the couch for a while now. It was actually Michael who was playing by himself now, since Alexa gave up soon after they had started. She just couldn’t do it. But now she was just bored while Michael was completely in the game. Then she thought of him fooling her earlier and how she could pay him back. 

He was immensely concentrated on the game of course, so she’d have to find a way to take his attention away from the screen. There was only one thing she could think of, so she started moving a little closer to him, her head resting on his shoulder. He didn’t seem to mind, as he just kept playing. But Alexa went further and sat up a little. She began peppering his neck and jawline with soft little kisses. His breath hitched. 

He was still trying to concentrate, yet it became harder by the second. Alexa’s hand was now on his thigh and her mouth was very close to his sweet spot. Also the kisses turned into something a little more passionate than they were initially. 

“god you need to stop” he croaked out, trying to concentrate on the game, rather than on her lips on his neck. 

“but why? Don’t you like it?” Alexa mused, knowing fairly well what she was doing. 

“I need. to concentrate” he stuttered out, almost incapable of forming sentences. This was all it took for Alexa to attach her lips to his sweet spot and begin sucking. Michael groaned and let his eyes fall shut for a second. Not even paying attention to the game anymore he let go of the controller in his hands and it dropped to the floor. All of his attention was on Alexa now. 

He turned around halfway looking Alexa directly in the eyes. She bit down on her lower lip, which drove Michael mad. So he grabbed her by the shoulders and pinned her down on the couch.

“you asked for it princess” he whispered before attaching their lips.


	30. Epilogue

“I can’t believe we used to hate each other” Alexa wondered out loud. The two of them layed on Alexa’s bed, talking about nothing and everything. 

“truth is” Michael began, playing with his bracelets. “I never really hated you. I just thought you would never like me, I guess I just wanted your attention, whatever way” Alexa could tell he was kind of embarrassed to tell her that, her assumption was confirmed when she looked over and saw his cheeks being quite flushed.

“you know” he went on “I actually hid my phone under the tree, after that party, just to have a reason to talk to you”

“aw you’re such an idiot, you could have just been nice for once” Alexa retorted. 

“yeah maybe” he said, voice not a lot more than a whisper. 

“you’re such an idiot” Alexa said “still” with that she poked his side. 

“yeah but now I am your idiot”


	31. thanks and all that

alright so that is officially it for this story. it took a while lol. i can still remember trying to come up with a proper plotline for my other fanfic and then reading a lot and then kind of not wanting to continue so i started this one because basically it's just all my fluffy fantasies. i can remember very well sitting in my room at 12am and basically procrastinating every other responsibility to line out all the chapters lol

so i wanna mention this one fanfic that inspired me a lot, you could say i love to hate you is loosely base on it. it hasn't been updated in a long while and i don't think it will ever be but you can read it here : http://5sosfanfiction.com/viewstory.php?action=printable&textsize=0&sid=216&chapter=all

and lastly i wanna thank all those people who read and liked and commented and all that you are amazing love you all goodbye.


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